I 




INTELLIGENCE TESTS 
j\ AND SCHOOL 
J^i REORGANIZATION 

* BY 

LEWIS M. TERMAN: VIRGIL E. DICKSON 

A. H. SUTHERLAND: RAYMOND H. FRANZEN 

C. R. TUPPER AND GRACE FERNALD 




Prepared as a subcommittee report 
to the Commission on Revision of 

Elementary Education 

National Education Association 

Dr. Margaret S. McN aught 

Chairman 



Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York 
WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

1922 



WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE 
Established 1905 by Caspar W. Hodgson 

Yc-NKERS-ON-HuDSON, NEW YORK 

2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 



Many superintendents administer intelligence 
tests the first time merely to find out the 
general condition of their schools. No im- 
mediate follow-up is planned. The first re- 
sults are always interesting and almost in- 
variably stimulate the superintendent to 
inquire into the causes of the conditions found 
and to seek to remedy them. This book 
shows the conditions in typical school sys- 
tems and describes certain methods of cor- 
recting common faults in school organization 
through the use of intelligence tests. It 
affords valuable suggestions to administrators 
who seek scientifically to reorganize their 
schools 



Copyright 1922 by World Book Company 

Copyright in Great Britain 

All rights reserved 

PRINTED IN U. S. A. 



©DU681413 

m 16 1922 



PREFACE 

This book is in no sense an inventory of the important 
experiments now going on in the United States in con- 
nection with the use of intelligence and educational 
tests. Such an inventory would have required entirely 
too much space and would have involved an amount 
of repetition which could not have been other than 
tedious. Instead, experiments have been selected which 
are typical of the leading methods of readjustment now 
being attempted in different parts of the country. All 
of them illustrate important types of procedure, but 
involve varying degrees of generality. At one extreme 
is the Oakland plan, described by Dr. Dickson, which 
affects the entire school enrollment and the entire ad- 
ministrative system. At the other is the work of Dr. 
Fernald, which concerns itself primarily with individual 
cases of maladjustment and has to do with pedagogical 
method rather than school organization. Between these 
extremes is the Los Angeles work, described by Dr. 
Sutherland. The latter, although originally intended to 
meet the needs of individual misfits, has resulted in the 
working out of methods of individual instruction which 
appear to have applicability with children in general. 
The chapter by Dr. Franzen illustrates in a most inter- 
esting way how the results of intelligence and educa- 
tional tests can be combined so as to serve as a better 
basis for rating the performance of pupils and the effi- 
ciency of schools. The chapter by Superintendent 
Tupper shows how much can be done, even in a small 
city and without elaborate reorganization, to improve 
the classification of children. 

Progressive educators are no longer interested in ar- 



iv PREFACE 

guments regarding the validity of the test method. 
"After tests, what next?" is now the question that is 
causing deepest concern. 

It is hoped that the experiments herein described will 
have suggestive value, at least for all who are seeking 
a practical solution of the problems of individual 
differences. 

Lewis M. Terman 

Chairman of Subcommittee on Use of Intelligence Tests in 
Revision of Elementary Education 



CONTENTS 

3APTEB PAGE 

Introduction (Margaret S. McN aught) vii 

I. The Problem (Lewis M. Termari) 1 

Historical — Lack of uniformity in the mental ability of grades 
and classes — Heterogeneity within a given grade or class — 
Intelligence tests necessary for the discovery of differences — 
Mental age standards for grading — Solution by individualization 
of instruction — Solution by homogeneous class groups— Sug- 
gestions for the introduction of a mental test program — 
Selected references on the use of intelligence tests in school 
grading and school reorganization 

II. Classification of School Children According 

to Mental Ability (Virgil E. Dickson) .... 32 

Classification in the first eight grades — Special classification 
in junior high schools — The senior high school — Summary 

III. Methods of Individual Instruction in the 

Adjustment Rooms of Los Angeles (A. H. 

Sutherland) 53 

Studying the curriculum from the standpoint of the child — 
Presenting the curriculum to the child — Principles of grouping 
subjects and topics — Samples of curriculum material — The 
adjustment room — Selecting the pupils for an adjustment 
room — The training of the child — Teaching the child to use 
the materials — Making his daily program — Class exercises — As 
an observation room — As a room for educational therapeutics — 
The adjustment-room teacher — Training the adjustment-room 
teacher— Function of the department of psychology and educa- 
tional research — Results in terms of school progress — Results 
in character formation — The Los Angeles adjustment plan in 
rural and village schools 

IV. The Conservation of Talent (Raymond Hugh 

Franzen) 73 

Mental investment and social dividends — Scientific questions 
involved — Current experiments in re-classification — Tests should 
throw light on the individual child — A method of survey of 
reading, language, and arithmetic — Accomplishment — The 
neglect of genius — Wholesale re-classification necessary 

V. The Use of Intelligence Tests in the Schools 
of a Small City (C. R. Tupper) 92 



v i CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 



VI. Significance of Mental Tests in Corrective 

and Adjustment Cases {Grace Fernald) .... 103 
Experiments with poor spellers — Experiments with non-readers 

Experiments with reading and writing in the case of first-grade 

children 



INTRODUCTION 

As chairman of the N. E. A. Commission on Revision of 
Elementary Education, I asked Professor Terman, in 
1919, to accept responsibility for the preparation of a 
subcommittee report on the value of intelligence tests 
in school reorganization. It was Professor Terman's 
understanding that several hundred dollars would be 
available from the treasury of the National Education 
Association for the purpose of defraying the expenses 
of a somewhat detailed investigation of school grading 
by mental tests. As the expected funds were not made 
available at a sufficiently early date, certain changes 
were necessary in the plans of the subcommittee. 
Instead of an investigation of the entire question, de 
novo, it was decided tofoffer brief summaries and inter- 
pretations of typical experiments already under way 
in a number of school systems of the country which 
have for their purpose the adjustment of school meth- 
ods, curricula, and organization to the individual differ- 
ences of pupils as shown by mental tests. The result is 
this little book, which is offered to the educational pub- 
lic in the belief that it will prove of interest and help to 
the increasing thousands of teachers and school admin- 
istrators who use mental and educational tests but are 
often at a loss to know what adjustments to make in 
the light of their test results. 

Margaret S. McNaught 

Chairman of Commission on Revision of Elementary Education, 

National Education Association 



COMMISSION ON REVISION OF ELEMENTARY 

EDUCATION, NATIONAL EDUCATION 

ASSOCIATION 

Margaret S. McNaught, Chairman 

State Commissioner of Elementary Schools, Sacra- 
mento, California 

Elizabeth Ash Woodward, Secretary 

University of State of New York, Albany, New York 

Georgia Alexander, Indianapolis, Indiana 

Rubye A. Batte, Memphis, Tennessee 

Abbie Louise Day, New York City 

Sara H. Fahey, Brooklyn, New York 

Anna Laura Force, Denver, Colorado 

Theda Gildemeister, State Normal School, Winona, 
Minnesota 

Frances H. Harden, Chicago, Illinois 

Clark W. Hetherington, New York City 

Olive M. Jones, New York City 

Abby E. Lane, Chicago, Illinois 

Marianna March, Child Culture School, Memphis, 
Tennessee 

Carroll Gardner Pearse, State Normal School, Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin 

Payson Smith, State Commissioner of Education, 
Boston, Massachusetts 

Lida Lee Tall, State Normal School, Towson, Mary- 
land 

Lewis M. Terman, Leland Stanford Junior University, 
Stanford University, California 



INTELLIGENCE TESTS AND 
SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

CHAPTER ONE 

The Problem 
Lewis M. Terman, Stanford University 

HISTORICAL 

There are few if any more significant events in modern 
educational history than the developments which have 
recently taken place in methods of mental measurement. 
The importance of this new psychological tool for the 
improvement of school administration has been recog- 
nized everywhere with a promptness which is hardly 
less than amazing. Only sixteen years have elapsed 
since Binet devised his first crude series of intelligence 
tests, only thirteen since he gave to the world the first 
real intelligence scale, and only eleven since the first 
translation of Binet's method was published in America. 
During the last decade translations and revisions of the 
Binet scale have been published in practically every 
civilized country of the world. In this movement Amer- 
ica has led. Nowhere else has such extensive practical 
use been made of the tests or so much research been 
undertaken for their improvement. In prisons, juvenile 
courts, reform schools, and institutions for defectives 
their use has become well-nigh universal. 

But the movement has not stopped at this point. 
Far-seeing educational psychologists and school admin- 
istrators early realized that the greatest value of mental 
tests would be found in their application with school 

1 



2 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

children. This use has grown to include the testing not 
only of backward or otherwise abnormal children, but 
also of the gifted and normal. Thousands of teachers 
have been trained in the use of the Stanford-Binet or 
group test procedure, and in many school systems all the 
children have been tested. There is reason to believe 
that at the present time Binet tests are being given in 
the United States at the rate of a quarter of a million 
a year. 

The value of intelligence tests was soon so thoroughly 
demonstrated that the need for a more expeditious 
method than that of Binet became imperative. Accord- 
ingly, methods of group testing were developed which, 
under the stimulus afforded by army needs in the 
Great War, were brought to a stage of practical useful- 
ness with unexampled swiftness. Then hardly had 
the war closed when a revision of the army tests, for the 
purpose of adapting them to school uses, was made 
possible by a grant of $25,000 from the General Edu- 
cation Board of the Rockefeller Foundation. The work 
was promptly carried through by a committee of psy- 
chologists under the auspices of the National Research 
Council, and the "National Intelligence Tests," de- 
signed for Grades 3 to 8, were the result. 

Meanwhile numerous psychologists, on their own 
initiative, were devising and trying out other methods 
of group testing. By 1921 more than a dozen group tests 
for the measurement of mental ability had been pub- 
lished. Several of these were designed for use in the 
primary grades, others for use in the grammar grades, 
high school, or college. Most of these methods had been 
modeled after the army Alpha or Beta scales, but some 



THE PROBLEM 3 

of them contained ingenious improvements. In gen- 
eral, progress had been in the direction of simplification 
of procedure in giving and scoring the tests. The aim 
had been to devise methods which could be safely used 
by any conscientious and intelligent principal or teacher. 
This end seems now to have been fairly well attained. 
Probably a million children in the schools of the United 
States were given a group mental test during the year 
1919-1920. In 1920-1921 the number was probably not 
less than two millions. We may expect the number to 
exceed five millions within a few years. 

To interpret this movement as but another educa- 
tional fad, destined to flourish awhile and then be for- 
gotten, would be a serious mistake. The essential facts 
in the situation do not justify such a view. Intelligence 
tests have demonstrated the great extent and frequency 
of individual differences in the mental ability of unse- 
lected school children, and common sense tells us how 
necessary it is to take such differences into account in 
the framing of curricula and methods, in the classifica- 
tion of children for instruction, and in their educational 
and vocational guidance. Standardized tests of the 
school's raw material can no more be dispensed with 
than standardized tests in agriculture, manufacturing, 
or medicine. In time, however, we may expect that the 
limits of their usefulness will be better defined. Some 
false hopes will have to be dispelled. The over-enthu- 
siastic will gradually learn that not even the universal 
use of intelligence tests will bring us to an educational 
millennium. The child is more than intelligence, and 
education is more than the cultivation of intellectual 
faculties. 



4 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Thus far effort has been devoted chiefly to the im- 
provement of testing technique and to the investiga- 
tion of the nature and range of individual differences. 
The results have shown convincingly that the schools 
of the future will have to take account of such differ- 
ences, but they have not shown how this can best be 
done. School reform has lagged behind the advances of 
psychological science. This is, of course, inevitable. 
The problems involved are inherently very difficult 
and are of such a nature that various alternative meth- 
ods of solution appear to be, from the point of view of 
theoretical considerations, almost equally plausible. 
Considerable time will have to elapse before final judg- 
ment can be rendered as to the relative value of the 
various possible methods of adjusting curriculum and 
methods to the individual differences of children. 

The purpose of this monograph, which has been pre- 
pared as a subcommittee report of the N. E. A. Com- 
mission on Revision of Elementary Education, is to set 
forth typical mental-test results which will show the 
necessity of the school's taking account of native intel- 
lectual differences and to describe a few experiments 
which will illustrate practical administrative methods 
of meeting the situation. These experiments are frankly 
tentative. They are offered merely for their suggestive 
value and with no thought that they should be taken as 
representing ideal schemes of school reorganization. 

LACK OF UNIFORMITY IN THE MENTAL ABILITY OF 
GRADES AND CLASSES 

School administrative practice in the United States 
has set up grade standards of achievement which, not- 



THE PROBLEM 5 

withstanding a certain amount of variability intention- 
ally allowed for, are supposed to represent a fair degree 
of uniformity throughout the country, or at least 
throughout the schools of a given city, state, or county. 
However, standardized achievement tests have shown 
that such uniformity does not exist. It is not uncom- 
mon to find the fourth grade in one city accomplishing 
as much as the fifth grade in another, or no more than 
the third grade may accomplish somewhere else. In 
fact, such discrepancies are not at all rare within the 
same school system, where all the usual precautions 
have been taken to secure uniformity. When condi- 
tions of this kind are uncovered, they are commonly 
attributed to differences in the efficiency of teachers or 
to differences in the home environment of the pupils. 
Intelligence tests have shown that these explanations 
are usually erroneous and that the condition is really 
due to differences in the raw material with which dif- 
ferent schools have to work. A few illustrations will 
suffice. 

Five first-grade classes in the vicinity of Stanford 
University tested by Dickson about the middle of the 
school year yielded the following median mental ages, 
stated in years and months: 5-7, 6-0, 6-0, 7-2, 7-8. 
That is, the best class had a median mental age more 
than two years above that of the poorest class. The best 
class possessed average second-grade ability, the poor- 
est class about average kindergarten ability. Seven 
receiving (first-grade) classes tested by Dickson in Oak- 
land, California, gave the median mental ages 5-8, 
6-2, 6-4, 6-4, 6-6, 6-6, and 7-0. The median mental 
age found by Dickson for 56 kindergarten children in 



6 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Oakland was 5-10, and that for 112 kindergarten chil- 
dren tested by Miss Cuneo was 5-6. It is evident, 
therefore, that some first-grade classes are less fitted to 
do standard first-grade work than some kindergarten 
classes. Three first-grade classes in the Horace Mann 
School gave median mental ages 7-4, 7-5, and 7-11. 
Here the differences within the same school are small, 
but the first grade of this school as a whole is enor- 
mously superior to the first grade as a whole in Oakland 
or in most other school systems. In Alameda, Califor- 
nia, Hubbard tested two fifth-grade classes, one of 
which yielded a median mental age of almost 12 years 
and the other a median mental age of slightly more than 
10 years. The former had sixth-grade ability, the latter 
fourth-grade ability. Tests of 29 Oakland classes gradu- 
ating from the eighth grade yielded class medians rang- 
ing from less than average sixth-grade ability to average 
tenth-grade ability. Similar contrasts appear over and 
over in the data secured from cities throughout the 
country in the establishment of norms on the Otis, 
National, and Terman Group tests. Until grade ability 
becomes more nearly uniform, it will be unreasonable to 
expect anything like uniformity in grade achievement. 
In view of such facts as those just reviewed it is 
obvious that the usual custom of standardizing educa- 
tional tests in terms of grade performance has little to 
commend it. Grade means too little, or rather it means 
too many things to justify such a procedure. The grade 
concept lacks permanency ; it is affected by all the shift- 
ing influences incident to such unstabilized and unstand- 
ardized educational systems as we find at present in 
this country. Age offers a far more satisfactory and per- 



THE PROBLEM 7 

inanent basis for norms of school achievement. It is 
beginning to be recognized that educational tests will 
have to be re-standardized in terms of age means or 
medians. 

HETEROGENEITY WITHIN A GIVEN GRADE OR CLASS 

Lack of uniformity in the median ability of grades 
and classes would not, if recognized and allowed for, 
be especially serious. There is nothing in the situation 
which requires that a given grade should always mean 
the same thing, either in different school systems or in 
different schools of the same system. It is only serious 
when not recognized and when the variability in 
achievement is attributed to spurious causes. On the 
other hand, a wide range of ability in the same class is 
much more serious. In general, children are able to 
profit from particular instruction roughly in proportion 
to the degree of mental maturity they have attained. 
The chronologically old and the chronologically young 
may and often do need the same kind of subject matter 
and methods. This is rarely true of the mentally old 
and the mentally young. A reasonable homogeneity in 
the mental ability of pupils who are instructed together 
is a sine qua non of school efficiency. 

The conditions which mental tests have disclosed in 
this respect are anything but satisfactory. The extreme 
ranges of mental ability in three first-grade classes of 
the Horace Mann School, taken separately, were, in 
terms of mental age, 2 years 9 months, 3 years 2 
months, and 3 years 9 months. The extreme ranges 
found by Dickson in seven first-grade receiving classes 
were 2 years 6 months, 2 years 8 months, 3 years, 3 



8 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

years 2 months, 3 years 2 months, 3 years 6 months, and 
3 years 6 months. Those for Hubbard's two fifth-grade 
classes were 5 years 4 months and 6 years 3 months. 
In Palo Alto the ranges found within three first-grade 
classes were 6 years 4 months, 3 years 2 months, and 
2 years 4 months; within three second-grade classes, 4 
years 9 months, 4 years 11 months, and 2 years 10 
months; within two third-grade classes, 6 years 6 
months and 4 years 6 months. The range for Proctor's 
first-year high school pupils was practically 7 years. 
The ranges disclosed by the National Intelligence Tests 
in Grades 3 to 8 of Vallejo, California, were in most 
cases over 4 years for any given grade. 

Summarizing, in a typical first-grade class the dullest 
pupil is likely to have a mental age of 4 or 4^ years, the 
brightest a mental age of 8 or 8}^. If we lump a dozen 
first-grade classes together, the range is ordinarily 
from 3 or 3^ years to 10 or 103^. Similarly, a dozen 
third-grade classes may range from mental age 7 to 
mental age 13, fifth-grade classes from mental age 8 to 
mental age 16, and eighth-grade classes from mental 
age 10 to a point about as high as any intelligence 
scale will measure. 

The overlapping of adjacent grades in mental ability 
is illustrated in Tables 1 and 2, which are selected as 
typical from an indefinite number of such tables avail- 
able. 

The condition may be summed up by the statement 
that, in general, from 20 to 25 per cent of the pupils of a 
given grade have attained a mental age about as high 
as the median mental age of the next higher grade, while 
the lowest 20 to 25 per cent in the same grade are about 



THE PROBLEM 



Table 1. Overlapping of Stanford-Binet Mental Ages in the First 
Three Grades of Palo Alto, California 



MENTAL 


FIRST 


SECOND 


THIRD 


AGE 


GRADE 


GRADE 


GRADE 


13 l A 






2 


13 








w/ 2 






6 


12 






2 


uy 2 






4 


ii 




2 


6 


ioh 




4 


12 


10 


2 




12 


9V 2 




2 


38 


9 




16 


40 


sy 2 


6 


28 


24 


8 


8 


38 


16 


iy 2 


29 


26 


10 


7 


44 


32 


6 


6H 


40 


6 






6 


24 


10 






5V 2 


12 








5 


4 








&A 










4 










33^ to 4 


2 









as low in mental age as the median for the next grade 
below. Usually 5 per cent or more at each extreme, or 
10 to 15 per cent in all, are two grades removed from 
that which is standard for their mental age. The 
amount of grade overlapping in mental ability is con- 
siderably greater in the upper school grades than in 
the lower, due partly to the fact that the influences 
responsible for overlapping have operated longer and 
partly to the fact that as children get older variability 
as expressed in units of mental age becomes greater. 
However, there are two mitigating circumstances 



10 



TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 



Table 2. Overlapping of National Intelligence Test Scores (Total 
Scales A and B) in Grades 3 to 8, Vallejo, California, Schools 



total 


THIRD 


FOURTH 


FIFTH 


SIXTH 


SEVENTH 


EIGHTH 


score 


GRADE 


GRADE 


GRADE 


GRADE 


GRADE 


GRADE 


340 














1 


320 
















300 












6 


9 


280 










1 


11 


33 


260 






I 


3 


12 


29 


41 


240 








6 


20 


38 


20 


220 






5 


19 


34 


46 


15 


200 






9 


41 


40 


25 


10 


180 


2 


28 


44 


20 


8 


2 


160 


4 


39 


52 


16 


5 






140 


12 


54 


34 


3 


3 






120 


29 


48 


18 


2 










100 


33 


19 


4 












80 


55 


17 


3 












60 


29 


4 


1 












40 


16 


1 














20 


5 




1 












0-19 



















which should be taken into account in the interpretation 
of data relative to grade overlapping in mental age. 

(1) A part of the observed overlapping is spurious, 
because of the imperfect reliability of intelligence tests. 
The higher the reliability of the test, the less is the over- 
lapping. Very brief or otherwise unreliable tests greatly 
exaggerate the overlapping. Kelley has given us a 
correction formula which allows for scale unreliability: 
viz., o t = <j\-\/~r\ or, substituting descriptive terms for 
symbols, the true standard deviation (that which would be 
found if the test were practically a perfect measure of 
the ability or abilities it purports to measure) equals the 
observed standard deviation multiplied by the square root 
of the test's correlation with itself calculated from scores of 



THE PROBLEM 11 

the same group of individuals. By the use of this formula 
the grade overlapping actually observed for any mental 
or educational test can be corrected to show what the 
true overlapping is for the abilities tested. 

Even when such correction is made, however, the 
overlapping of adjacent grades is still very great. 
When we are dealing with Stanford-Binet mental ages, 
the application of Kelley's formula does not alter the 
results very materially. In the three Horace Mann 
first-grade classes the extreme mental age range given 
by the Stanford-Binet was reduced in one class only 
from 2 years 9 months to 2 years 6 months, in another 
class by a slightly greater amount, and in the third 
class by about 25 per cent, when the mental ages were 
based on a composite score of the Stanford-Binet, 
Pressey Scale, Meyer Tests, teachers' ratings on mental 
maturity, and teachers' ranking in ability to read. 
Such overlapping as is shown by the Stanford-Binet, 
Otis, National, or Terman Group tests is, for the most 
part, genuine. 

(2) Granting this, however, it would still be a mis- 
take to assume that no overlapping in real ability is jus- 
tifiable. There is no warrant for grading all pupils 
rigidly on the basis of mental age, even if mental age is 
the most important single factor. A pupil's fitness for a 
given grade depends in some degree upon his previous 
instruction, his health, his physical maturity, his 
industry, and his attitude toward school work. How- 
ever, when all reasonable allowance has been made for 
these factors, it is impossible to find warrant for the 
present miscellaneous scattering of mental ages through 
the grades. Making every allowance that could be 



12 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

made, it is doubtful whether in an average school sys- 
tem more than 70 per cent of the pupils are being given 
instruction which is as well suited to them as would be 
the instruction in a higher or a lower grade. 

INTELLIGENCE TESTS NECESSARY FOR THE DISCOVERY 
OF DIFFERENCES 

The mere fact that such heterogeneity as that noted 
above exists is in itself evidence enough that intelli- 
gence tests are needed to bring them out. Thanks to 
the industrious work of a few psychologists, the value 
of intelligence tests as an aid in determining mental 
ability has been established beyond any possibility of 
doubt. Those whose work entitles them to an opinion 
no longer debate the question. 

Investigations have gone farther and have brought 
to light a number of the factors which contribute to the 
unreliability of estimates of general ability based on 
ordinary observation. Among these factors are age, 
industry, physical appearance, personality, and atti- 
tude toward school work. For example, investigators 
are unanimous in finding that when pupils for a given 
grade are rated for brightness, the older pupils are 
over-rated and the younger pupils under-rated. This 
error is not one which can be eliminated by simply cau- 
tioning raters to take age into account. The teacher 
is not aware of the full significance of age in this con- 
nection and so cannot take it into account. The influ- 
ence of industry is hard to eliminate for the reason that 
the natural basis for the teacher's judgment of a pupil's 
ability is the quality of his school performance. Since 
a pupil of very superior intelligence may do mediocre 



THE PROBLEM 



13 



work, if he lacks sufficiently in application, it is in- 
evitable that lazy pupils will be under-rated. Similarly, 
the pupil of superior industry is likely to be somewhat 
over-rated, although errors in this direction are not 
likely to be as large as errors of the opposite sort. 
Intelligent appearance, a lively expression, an agreeable 
attitude and spontaneity in response, all tend to bring- 
about the over-rating of ability; while a placid expres- 
sion, homeliness, annoying behavior, diffidence, and 
apparent lack of self-confidence cause under-rating. 
Annoying behavior and timidity are particularly likely 
to affect the teacher's judgment unfavorably. Objective 
tests offer the only available means of checking up the 
accuracy of subjective impressions. 

MENTAL AGE STANDARDS FOR GRADING 

In any plan of school adjustment to individual dif- 
ferences questions are sure to arise regarding mental age 
standards for the various grades. Tentative standards 
worked out on the basis of 1936 Binet tests of California 
children are as follows: 



Table 3. Mental Age Standards for the Different Grades 


GRADE 


STANDARD MENTAL AGE 


MENTAL AGE AT 
MID-GRADE 


I 


6-6 to 7-5 


7 years 


II 


7-6 to 8-5 


8 years 


III 


8-6 to 9-5 


9 years 


IV 


9-6 to 10-5 


10 years 


V 


10-6 to 11-5 


11 years 


VI 


11-6 to 12-5 


12 years 


VII 


12-6 to 13-5 


13 years 


VIII 


13-6 to 14-5 


14 years 


H. S. I. 


14-6 to 15-5 


15 years 



Etc. 



14 



TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 



The child is expected to start to school between the 
ages of six and seven years. Although many start 
later and some younger, the average age in most parts 
of the United States is not far from six and a half. The 
expected mental ages figured on this basis would be 
those given above. The actual mental age medians for 
the 1936 cases, by grades, were as follows: 



GRADE 


i 


ii 


m 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 


H. B. I. 


Cases 




















tested. . 


341 


189 


181 


253 


226 


236 


193 


180 


137 


Median 




















mental 




















age 


6-10 


7-11 


9-0 


9-11 


11-0 


12-1 


13-1 


14-2 


15-4 



It will be seen that the medians found agree fairly 
closely with the expected. Mental age medians re- 
ported for the various grades by other investigators are 
also in substantial agreement with the above standards. 
Typical findings are shown in Table 4. 

As has already been shown, a particular class of a 
given grade may yield a median mental age far above or 
far below the standard for that grade as given in Table 
3. These standards simply indicate approximately 
where the medians ought to be, as our schools are graded 
at present. If our grading system should change, the 
grade standards also would change. The standards 
given afford a serviceable basis for estimating the 
quality of work which should be expected of a given 
class in a given grade, and for judging the fitness of a 
grade as a whole, in any particular school system, to 
pursue the work which is normal to that grade. By use 
of these standards it is also possible to translate grade 



THE PROBLEM 



15 



Table 4. Median Mental Ages Found in Different Grades 



GRADE 


NO. 
PUPILS 


REPORTED 
BY 


MEDIAN 

MENTAL 

AGE 


STANDARD 
FOR TIME OF 
TEAR TESTS 
WERE GIVEN 


Kgn. 


56 


Dickson 


5-10 


? 


Kgn. 
I 


112 
140 


Cuneo 
Cole 


5-5 

6-6 


? 

7-0 


I 


183 


Edmondson 


6-11 


7-0 


I Low 


397 


Dickson 


6-4 


6-6 


I 


171 


Kellam 


7-0 


7-0 


I 


3 classes 


Chassell 


7-9 


7-0 


II 


164 


Kellam 


8-1 


8-4 


III 


178 


Kellam 


9-5 


9-5 


I 


About 100 


PintDer 


7-1 


7-0 


II 


About 100 


Pintner 


8-3 


8-0 


III 


About 100 


Pintner 


8-7 


9-0 


IV 


About 100 


Pintner 


10-2 


10-0 


V 


About 100 


Pintner 


11-0.5 


11-0 


V 


79 


Hubbard 


11-0 


11-0 


IX 


137 


Proctor 


15-10 


15-6 



performance in all kinds of educational tests into age 
standards. Thus, a pupil whose score in reading corre- 
sponds to Grade 4 may be said to have a "reading age" 
of 10 years; a pupil whose score in spelling is halfway 
between the standard for Grade 7 and that for Grade 8 
has a "spelling age" of 13^ years, etc. 



SOLUTION BY INDIVIDUALIZATION OF INSTRUCTION 

Solution of the problem of individual differences may 
be sought in either of two directions: (1) in the individ- 
ualization of instruction or (2) in the formation of more 
homogeneous classes for group instruction. It is well to 
note that, apart from compromises and mixed proce- 
dures, these two alternatives exhaust the possibilities. 



16 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Until comparatively modern times the method of 
individual instruction was almost the only one known. 
It was only natural that this method should prevail as 
long as education was for the selected few only. It was 
equally natural that with the growth of democratic 
ideals and the movement toward universal education 
the individual method should be replaced by group 
instruction. On no other basis, at that time, did uni- 
versal education seem possible. 

More recently, however, and particularly in the last 
thirty years, several notable attempts have been made 
to modify school procedure in such a way as to individu- 
alize instruction without restricting the numbers to be 
educated. To describe these experiments in detail would 
carry us beyond our present purpose. They have not 
met with enough success to give the method any vogue. 
The difficulties are very great. As long as there must be 
thirty or forty pupils for each teacher, it is obvious that 
individual instruction for all is not possible without 
radical modification both of textbooks and of methods, 
and the necessary modifications can be evolved only by 
patient trying out of specially devised procedures. 

The Los Angeles Adjustment Plan, for example, 
hinges largely upon individual instruction, but has been 
developed primarily for use with special class children. 
For a description of the Adjustment Plan the reader is 
referred to Chapter 2. 

This and other current experiments in individual in- 
struction will be watched with the greatest interest. 
Developments in the use of project methods and prac- 
tice materials and in the standardization of curriculum 
content according to mental maturity have given an 



THE PROBLEM 17 

entirely new aspect to the situation. What formerly 
seemed impossible may conceivably prove to be not 
only possible, but feasible. 

But even if possible and feasible, is a scheme of 
purely individual instruction also desirable? The writer 
does not believe that a dogmatic answer to this question 
is at present justifiable. The objection usually voiced is 
that under such a plan the school would lose most of its 
social values. The question which the objection raises 
is of crucial importance. Any considerable loss in social 
and character development would be too big a price to 
pay for a little improvement in the efficiency of intel- 
lectual training. On the other hand, it must be admitted 
that the supplementation of self or individual instruc- 
tion by suitable playground experience and by frequent 
group discussions of general-interest topics partly 
makes up for the lack of social experience afforded by 
group study and group recitation. It has often been 
pointed out that learning, after all, is necessarily an in- 
dividual matter. A more serious obstacle to the general 
adoption of completely individualized instruction lies 
in the fact that it demands greater skill and resourceful- 
ness on the part of the teacher. 

SOLUTION BY HOMOGENEOUS CLASS GROUPS 

Whether a satisfactory scheme of individual in- 
struction is possible or not, a consideration of present 
educational trends points to the conclusion that solu- 
tion of the problem of individual differences is more 
likely to be found in the gradation of pupils into homo- 
geneous class groups. At any rate, effort is at present 
chiefly in this direction; for while experiments in indi- 



18 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

vidual instruction are few and localized, experiments in 
re-grouping for mass instruction are numerous and 
widespread. The re-grouping method has the great 
advantage that it involves a less radical break with 
current educational practice. Probably a majority of 
the cities of the country are attempting at least some- 
thing in this line — the Oakland plan, described in 
Chapter 3, being perhaps the most thoroughgoing ex- 
periment of the kind that has yet been attempted. 

The multiple-track plan, which is the most impor- 
tant feature of the Oakland scheme, is of course not 
new. For a quarter of a century attention has fre- 
quently been called to the merits of the multiple-track 
plans operated in Mannheim (Germany), Cambridge 
(Massachusetts), and elsewhere. Although the method 
has met with little adverse criticism and has been 
widely extolled as a means of reducing the number of 
"repeaters," it has not been widely adopted. 1 It has 
been given new vitality and new promise chiefly as a 
result of advances in psychological methods for measur- 
ing individual differences. Intelligence tests have 
(1) demonstrated more convincingly the extent of 
individual differences and (2) made it possible to 
classify children more accurately on the basis of native 
ability. Also, as a result of their findings we have come 
to realize the necessity of a differentiated course of 
study for the pupils progressing along each of the 
so-called tracks. 

It is the conviction of the writer that, ideally, provi- 

1 The Mannheim system, established in 1899, had two fatal weaknesses: 

(1) approximately 90 per cent of the pupils progressed along the main track, 
only 10 per cent being cared for by the "furthering" and special classes; 

(2) the plan lacked adequate provision for children of superior ability. 



THE PROBLEM 



19 



sion should be made for five groups of children : the very 
superior, the superior, the average, the inferior, and the 
very inferior. We may refer to these as classes for the 
"gifted," "bright," "average," "slow," and "special" 
pupils. For each of these groups there should be a 
separate track and a specialized curriculum. The rela- 
tive numbers enrolled in the five groups would of 
course vary from place to place. In the average school 
system of sufficient size (enrolling, say, 2000 pupils in 
the grades below the high school) a division something 
like the following might be considered : 



GROUP 


NO. IN EACH GROUP 


REMARKS 


Gifted 


2K%, or 50 pupils 


Two classes, four grades 
each 


Bright 


15%, or 300 pupils 


One class in each grade 


Average 


65%, or 1300 pupils 


Four to five classes in each 
grade 


Slow- 


15%, or 300 pupils 


One class in each grade 


Special 


2H%» or 50 pupils 


Three ungraded classes 



The above is merely a suggestion and is intended to 
apply only to the strictly average city. In a school 
population containing an exceptionally large proportion 
of gifted or very dull children the numbers would have 
to vary accordingly. In general the percentage who 
should be cared for in the various groups would prob- 
ably range somewhat as follows: 

Gifted 1 to 3 per cent 

Bright 10 to 20 per cent 

Average 54 to 78 per cent 

Slow 10 to 20 per cent 

Special 1 to 3 per cent 

School systems of 500 to 1000 enrollment will of 
course often have to be content with at most three in- 



20 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

stead of five tracks, and in some cases may have to get 
along with only two. An adjustment involving at least 
two tracks would seem to be feasible even in a village 
school having only four or five teachers. In this case 
the teacher would have about half the pupils in each of 
four grades instead of all the pupils of two grades. In a 
typical one-room school enrolling seven or eight grades 
the multiple-track plan does not seem feasible as a 
formal system at all, although in individual cases some 
adjustments may be possible. For such schools the 
main concern should be to promote pupils from grade to 
grade more strictly on the basis of ability as shown by 
standardized mental and educational tests. 

It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the mul- 
tiple-track plan calls for a differentiated course of 
study, as regards both content and method. The work- 
ing out of such courses is, indeed, one of the most urgent 
needs in education today. It is easy enough to say that 
courses for the bright and gifted should be "enriched" 
and that those for slow pupils should be reduced to 
"minimum essentials." Exactly what kind of enrich- 
ment is desirable for the former, and exactly what the 
minimum essentials are for the latter, are questions 
which perhaps cannot be satisfactorily answered at 
present. However, a book dealing sagaciously with this 
problem would merit and would doubtless have wide 
popularity and profound influence. 

For the gifted, bright, average, and dull groups, the 
specialized course should in each case be continuous to 
the end of the eighth grade, at least, and for the first 
three groups at least to the end of the high school. For 
the slow group the curriculum beyond the eighth grade 



THE PROBLEM 21 

should be almost entirely vocational. The special group 
will of course not ordinarily go beyond the fourth or fifth 
grade. Beyond suggesting that the curriculum for these 
pupils should be made far more vocational and practical 
than it usually is, the writer cannot enter at present 
into the problems of "special class" methods. 

For the bright, average, and slow groups, the reor- 
ganization should hinge primarily upon differentiated 
curriculum content and methods rather than upon time 
adjustments. There is no reason why the three main 
tracks should not, in the large majority of cases, be 
covered in the same number of years. Naturally a few 
pupils could be expected to gain or lose a year. The 
gifted group, on the other hand, should cover the eight 
grades in six years, or at most seven. For these the num- 
ber of grades below the high school could very well 
be reduced to correspond to the number of years 
adopted as normal for the group. The longer the course 
the greater will be the importance of curriculum enrich- 
ment and method modification. For the pupils of all 
groups, progress on the multiple-track plan would be 
continuous. There would still be occasional failures, 
but the number of repeaters would probably be re- 
duced to a fifth or even a tenth of what it now is. 

Finally, it goes without saying that the road for 
transfers from track to track must always be kept open. 
A fixed and permanent grouping would not only be re- 
pugnant to American ideals of democracy, but also 
pedagogically unjustifiable. So many factors enter to 
determine a child's fitness for a given kind of school 
work, and these factors operate from time to time in 
such variable combinations, that frequent transfers 
would be imperative. 



22 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF A 
MENTAL TEST PROGRAM 

What pupils shall be tested? The answer is, all. If 
only selected children are tested, many of the cases 
most in need of adjustment will be overlooked. The 
purpose of the tests is to tell us what we do not already 
know, and it would be a mistake to test only those 
pupils who are recognized as obviously below or above 
average. Some of the biggest surprises are encountered 
in testing those who have been looked upon as close to 
average in ability. Universal testing is fully warranted, 
whether considered from the point of view of money cost 
or labor cost. If we can afford to spend $50 to $100 a 
year for a child's instruction for ten or twelve years, 
we can surely afford to spend 6 to 10 cents for a test 
whose results may affect the child's entire educational 
career. The labor cost is too small to be counted an 
obstacle, now that satisfactory group tests are avail- 
able. If the results are properly used, the cost is a nega- 
tive quantity, for in the long run labor is saved. 

Choice of tests. New intelligence tests have recently 
appeared in such numbers that the average teacher or 
school administrator is likely to experience a feeling of 
helplessness in trying to decide regarding their relative 
merits. However, the number of tests which are really 
anything like satisfactory from both the scientific and 
practical point of view is small. It is not within the 
scope of this report to recommend particular tests, but 
the following general statements may be made: 

1. At present three separate group scales are re- 
quired in testing Grades 1 to 12: one for Grades 1 to 3, 



THE PROBLEM 23 

another from Grade 3 or 4 to Grade 8 or 9, and a third 
from Grade 7 or 8 to Grade 12. 

2. Those who are not thoroughly familiar with the 
merits of the different tests available for each of these 
levels should seek the help of some one who knows. 
The director of educational research in almost any city 
of considerable size is ordinarily in a position to give 
unprejudiced and expert advice. 

3. Brief tests requiring ten or twenty minutes, even 
when they show a fairly high correlation with more 
thorough intelligence scales, are too unreliable to be 
depended upon for the measurement of individual 
pupils. The saving in time and cost is too small to 
justify the risk of doing injustice in a considerable per- 
centage of cases by the use of erroneous scores. 

4. The group tests devised for grades below the 
fourth are much less satisfactory than tests for Grades 
4 to 12. When "primary" tests are used, they need to 
be checked up by a large amount of individual testing. 
This is especially important in the first grade. When 
possible, individual rather than group tests should be 
given throughout the first three grades. 

5. Pupils of any grade who test extremely high or 
extremely low, and pupils whose group test score dis- 
agrees materially with school performance, should be 
given an individual test. 

Who shall give and score the tests? Group tests may be 
given by the school psychologist (or director of re- 
search), the principal, or the teachers themselves. Al- 
though the procedure for many of the tests is simple 
enough to be mastered readily by any teacher, it is 
on the whole more satisfactory to have all tests given by 



24 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

trained and experienced examiners. When no experi- 
enced examiner is available, the teacher should not 
hesitate to undertake the work herself. Binet testing is 
of course more difficult, and to do it as it ought to be 
done requires considerable training. However, count- 
less teachers and principals have attained a fair 
mastery of the Binet method entirely by their own 
efforts. Many cities are solving this problem by 
giving training courses in Binet procedure to selected 
groups of teachers. 

The scoring of group tests may be done by the teach- 
ers, provided it is carefully supervised. Scoring done 
without adequate supervision is certain to contain a 
large percentage of errors. Additions to secure total 
score should always be performed twice, preferably by 
different persons. Copying and transcription of scores 
should also be verified. 

Who shall have access to the scores? Not the public, 
certainly, and ordinarily not the pupils. In rare cases 
one may be warranted in letting a particular pupil 
know his score, but in the long run it is probably wiser 
never to do so. The child who is inquisitive may simply 
be told that he has done "well" or "pretty well," etc. 
If this rule is ever broken, it should be in the case of 
pupils in the upper grades or high school who test high 
but lack self-confidence or do not apply themselves dili- 
gently. 

Nor should the scores ordinarily be given to parents. 
To keep them from the teachers would be, in the opin- 
ion of the writer, to carry secrecy too far. It is always 
necessary, however, to instruct teachers in the signifi- 
cance of scores and to caution them severely against the 



THE PROBLEM 25 

evils of making unguarded remarks about the intelli- 
gence of this or that child. It is extremely important 
that every one who uses scores in mental ability tests 
should have some definite knowledge of and a whole- 
some respect for their probable errors. Special instruc- 
tion on this point should be given. 

The use of supplementary data. The test score, in- 
stead of being considered infallible, should be taken as 
the point of departure for further study of the pupil. 
Educational tests should be used and data should be 
secured on health, interests, habits, and attitude toward 
school work. Before the tests are given, ratings should 
be made of each pupil on quality of school work, intelli- 
gence, industry, social adaptability, etc. These may be 
made on a five-point or seven-point scale. The compari- 
son of such ratings with test results will prove of sur- 
passing interest. One pupil tests lower than he was 
rated, another higher. Why the discrepancy? In trying 
to find an answer to such questions the teacher will come 
to understand her pupils as she never did before. 

The Accomplishment Ratio. In this connection use 
should be made of the Accomplishment Ratio (AR) as 
worked out by Dr. Franzen (see Chapter 4) ; that is, the 
ratio secured by dividing accomplishment age by men- 
tal age. At present the value of this device is limited 
somewhat by the lack of reliable age norms for the 
various educational tests. When this want has been 
supplied, as it doubtless will be soon, the AR may be- 
come as well known as the IQ. In judging a child's 
educational performance we need to know how well he 
is living up to his mental possibilities. The AR tells us 
this. It is the main function of the teacher to keep the 



26 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

AR from dropping below 100; that is, to keep the ac- 
complishment level for each child up to the standard 
for that child's mental age. 

Where only grade standards are available for an edu- 
cational test, these may be converted into approximate 
age standards by use of Table 3 (page 13), showing the 
mental ages which normally correspond to each grade. 
For example, since the median mental age (also median 
age) corresponding to Grade 3 is nine years, a child who 
earns a third-grade score in a given educational test 
may be said to have an accomplishment age of nine 
years for that school subject. If the child's mental age is 
ten years, the AR is 9 -s- 10, or 90. If the score on the 
educational test is somewhere between the norms for 
two grades, the corresponding accomplishment age is 
arrived at by interpolation. 

As Franzen has shown, an ideal method of school 
marking would be to give the child his AR in each sub- 
ject. It is obvious that the usual method of marking 
by A, B, C, D, E (or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) does not tell the pupil 
whether he is doing as well as he could be expected to do, 
ability considered. 

Using the test results. The purpose of intelligence 
tests in the schools is to make a difference in the edu- 
cational treatment of pupils, not to furnish amusement 
to the teacher or to gratify an idle curiosity. Unless the 
results are to be used, the tests had better not be 
given. On the other hand, immediate wholesale re- 
grading is not always advisable. Reorganization should 
take place gradually. The opposition sometimes en- 
countered here and there in putting over a testing 
program in a city usually melts away under the favor- 



THE PROBLEM 27 

able influence of a successful experiment with the tests 
in one or two schools. 

The specific uses which may be made of mental test 
results are set forth in Chapters 2 to 6. The present 
writer would urge the widespread trial of the multiple- 
track plan, adapted according to size of city and accord- 
ing to other circumstances. Merely to give a small 
proportion of children an extra promotion, while this is 
well worth while, is to be satisfied with too little. More 
radical measures must be adopted to reduce sufficiently 
the mental age range in the instruction groups. 

Pupil guidance. The use of the tests in educational 
and vocational guidance is hardly less important than 
their use in re-grouping. In fact, the two uses are bound 
up together. At present vocational guidance is too 
largely an end process, an afterthought. To be of most 
value it should be preceded by years of educational 
guidance. At every step in the child's progress the 
school should take account of his vocational possibili- 
ties. Preliminary investigations indicate that an IQ 
below 70 rarely permits anything better than unskilled 
labor; that the range from 70 to 80 is preeminently 
that of semi-skilled labor, from 80 to 100 that of the 
skilled or ordinary clerical labor, from 100 to 110 or 115 
that of the semi-professional pursuits; and that above 
all these are the grades of intelligence which permit one 
to enter the professions or the larger fields of business. 
Intelligence tests can tell us whether a child's native 
brightness corresponds more nearly to the median of 
(1) the professional classes, (2) those in the semi- 
professional pursuits, (3) ordinary skilled workers, (4) 
semi-skilled workers, or (5) unskilled laborers. This in- 



28 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

formation will be of great value in planning the edu- 
cation of a particular child and also in planning the 
differentiated curriculum here recommended. It will 
be understood that such figures can only be used as a 
rough guide, especially since the IQ is not a perfectly 
accurate measure of intelligence. 

The discovery and cultivation of talent. The average 
school devotes more time and effort to its dullards than 
to its children of superior ability. The latter are ex- 
pected to take care of themselves. As a matter of fact, 
many of them are not discovered. Yet it may be of 
greater value to society to discover a single gifted child 
and aid in his proper development than to train a 
thousand dullards to the limit of their educability or to 
prevent the birth of a thousand feeble-minded. Inves- 
tigations show that the brightest children, those who 
have IQ's above 130 or 140, are usually located from 
one to three grades below that which corresponds to 
their mental age. They are not encouraged to live up to 
their possibilities. Their school work is so easy for them 
that their wills are in danger of becoming flabby from 
lack of exertion. How can character develop normally 
in a child who, during all the years when character is 
being molded, never meets a task that calls forth his 
best effort? The school's first task is to find its gifted 
children and to set them tasks more commensurate 
with their ability. 

In 1921 a survey of gifted children in California was 
begun under the auspices of Stanford University. It is 
the purpose of the research, which was financed by a 
substantial grant from the Commonwealth Fund, of 
New York City, to locate 1000 of the brightest children 



THE PROBLEM 29 

in the public schools of the state, to secure a large 
amount of psychological, educational, and physical 
data concerning them, and to follow their careers as far 
into adult life as possible. This is the first research of 
its kind ever undertaken, but there is reason to hope 
that such studies will become less rare. 



Selected References on the Use of Intelligence Tests in 
School Grading and School Reorganization 

Branson, Ernest P. An Experiment in Arranging High School Sections on 
the Basis of General Ability. Journal of Educational Research, January, 
1921, 3: 53-56. 

Buckingham, B. R. Suggestions for Procedure Following a Testing Program. 
I. Reclassification. Journal of Educational Research, December, 1920, 
2:787-801. 

Buckingham, B. R., and Monroe, W. S. A Testing Program for Elemen- 
tary Schools. Journal of Educational Research, September, 1920, 2:521- 
532. 

Burk, Frederic. Data of Two Years' Experience in Operation of a System 
of Individual Instruction. Bulletin San Francisco State Normal School, 
1915, 69 pages. 

Callihan, T. W. An Experiment in the Use of Intelligence Tests as a 
Basis for Proper Grouping and Promotions in the Eighth Grade. Ele- 
mentary School Journal, February, 1921, 21:465-469. 

Chassell, Clara F. and Laura M. A Survey of the Three First Grades of 
the Horace Mann School by Means of Psychological Tests and Teachers' 
Estimates, and a Statistical Evaluation of the Measures Employed. Jour- 
nal of Educational Psychology, February, 1921, 12:72-81. 

Cole, L. W. Mental Age and School Entrance. School and Society, October 
5, 1918, 418-419. 

Colvin, S. S. Some Recent Results Obtained from the Otis Group Intelli- 
gence Scale. Journal of Educational Research, January, 1921, 3:1-12. 

Cummins, Robert A. Bright and Slow Pupils in Elementary and High 
School. Journal of Educational Psychology, October, 1919, 10:377-388. 

Cuneo, Irene, and Terman, L. M. Stanford-Binet Tests of 112 Kinder- 
garten Children and 77 Repeated Tests. Pedagogical Seminary, December, 
1918, 414-428. 

Dickson, V. E. Report of Department of Research, Oakland Public Schools, 
1917-1918, especially pages 207-225. 

Dickson, V. E. What First-Grade Children Can Do in School as Related 
to Mental Tests. Journal of Educational Research, June, 1920, 2:475-480. 



30 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Dickson, V. E. The Use of Group Mental Tests in the Guidance of Eighth- 
Grade and High School Pupils. Journal of Educational Research, October, 
1920, 2:601-610. 

Dickson, V. E., and Norton, J. K. The Otis Group Intelligence Scale 
Applied to the Elementary-School Graduating Classes of Oakland, Cali- 
fornia. Journal of Educational Research, February, 1921, 3:106-115. 

Edmondson, Margaret B. A Mental Survey of First-Grade School Chil- 
dren. Pedagogical Seminary, 1920, 27:354-370. 

Franzen, Raymond. The Accomplishment Quotient; A School Mark in 
Terms of Individual Capacity. Teachers College Record, Columbia Uni- 
versity, 1920, 21:432-440. 

Frasier, George W. The Measurement of Intelligence as an Aid to Admin- 
istration. Educational Administration and Supervision, September, 1920, 
6:361-366. 

Hoke, K. J. Retardation and Placement of Children in the Elementary 
Grades. A Study of the Schools of Richmond, Virginia. Bulletin Bureau of 
Education, 1916, No. 3, 92 pages. 

Keener, E. E. The Use of Measurements in a Small City System. Journal 
of Educational Research, March, 1921, 3:201-206. 

Lacy, W. I. A Study of 100 Retarded Fourth-Grade Pupils Tested by Binet 
Scale. Psychological Clinic, March 15, 1918, 16-23. 

Lipsky, Abram. School Grading by Mental Tests. School and Society, 
February 26, 1916, 320-324. 

Myers, Garry C. Comparative Intelligence Ratings of Three Social 
Groups within the Same School. School and Society, April 30, 1921, 13: 
536-539. 

Pintner, Rudolf. The Mental Survey. D. Applet on & Co., 1918, 116 pages. 

Pintner, Rudolf. The Value of Mental Testing in the Elimination of the 
Repeater. School and Society, December 9, 1916, 909-911. 

Pintner, Rudolf, and Fitzgerald, Florence. An Educational Survey 
Test. Journal of Educational Psychology, April, 1920, 11:207-223. 

Pintner, Rudolf, and Marshall, Helen. Results of the Combined Men- 
tal-Educational Survey Tests. Journal of Educational Psychology, Febru- 
ary, 1921, 12:82-91. 

Pintner, Rudolf, and Marshall, Helen. A Combined Mental-Educa- 
tional Survey. Journal of Educational Psychology, January, 1921, 12:32-43. 

Pintner, Rudolf, and Noble, Helen. The Classification of School Chil- 
dren According to Mental Age. Journal of Educational Research, Novem- 
ber, 1920, 2:713-728. 

Pressey, S. L. A Comparison of Two Cities and Their School Systems by 
Means of a Group Scale of Intelligence. Educational Administration and 
Supervision, February, 1919, 5:53-62. 

Pressey, S. L., and Thomas, J. B. A Study of Country Children in {I) 
a Good and (2) a Poor Farming District by Means of a Group Scale of 
Intelligence. Journal of Applied Psychology, September, 1919, 3:283-286- 

Proctor, W. M. Psychological Tests in Educational Guidance. Journal 
of Educational Research, May, 1920, 2:369-381. 



THE PROBLEM 31 

Ruch, G. M. A Study of the Mental, Pedagogical, and Physical Develop- 
ment of the Pupils of the Junior Division of the University High School, 
Eugene, Oregon. University of Oregon, September, 1920, 48 pages. 

Saam, Theodore. Intelligence Tests as an Aid in Supervision. Elementary 
School Journal, September, 1919, 20:26-32. 

Sylvester, R. H. An Intelligence Survey of a Typical Town School. Peda- 
gogical Seminary, December, 1919, 26:365-371. 

Taylor, J. F. The Classification of Pupils in Elementary Algebra. Journal 
of Educational Psychology, September, 1918, 361-380. 

Terman, L. M. The Intelligence of School Children. Houghton Mifflin 
Company, 1919, 317 pages. 

Terman, L. M. The Measurement of Intelligence. Houghton Mifflin Com- 
pany, 1916, 362 pages. 

Terman, L. M. The Use of Intelligence Tests in the Grading of School 
Children. Journal of Educational Research, January, 1920, 1:20-32. 

Terman, L. M., et al. The Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet- 
Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence. Warwick & York, 1917, 179 pages. 

Toops, H. A., and Pintner, Rudolf. Mentality and School Progress. 
Journal of Educational Psychology, 1919, 10:253-262. 

Washburne, Carleton W. Breaking the Lockstep in Our Schools. School 
and Society, October 5, 1918, 391-402. 

West, Roscoe L. An Experiment with the Otis Group Intelligence Scale in 
the Needham, Massachusetts, High School. Journal of Educational Re- 
search, April, 1921, 3:261-268. 

Williams, Allen J. Age-Grade Distribution and IQ. Journal of Educa- 
tional Psychology, January, 1920, 11:39-44. 

Yearbook, National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, 1922. Intelli- 
gence Tests and their Uses, 228 pages. Public School Publishing Company, 
Bloomington, Illinois. ♦ 



CHAPTER TWO 

Classification of School Children According to 
Mental Ability 

Virgil E. Dickson, Director of Bureau of Research and 
Guidance, Oakland, California 

Editor's Introduction 

Dr. Dickson wishes it to be understood that the experiment de- 
scribed in this chapter is tentative and incomplete. It has attracted 
such wide attention, however, that we are glad to be able to offer 
this brief account of its main features. The editor, for one, believes 
that the best hope for a satisfactory solution of the problem of indi- 
vidual differences lies in an extension and thorough working out of 
the Oakland plan. This belief may or may not be correct, but prob- 
ably all will agree that the plan should be given such trial as will 
determine once for all its advantages and limitations. (L. M. T.) 

classification in the first eight grades 

The theory behind annual and semiannual promotions 
is that pupils can be classified by grades into homogene- 
ous groups and that, when thus grouped, large classes 
can be handled by one teacher. It is, of course, recog- 
nized that pupils of similar ability work better together, 
and that the larger the classes which can be handled 
the lower the cost of education will be. However, 
numerous school surveys of recent years, involving the 
collection of extensive data on age-grade status, class- 
room accomplishment, and mental condition of chil- 
dren, reveal the fact that the average school class of a 
given grade is far from being homogeneous; that, on 
the contrary, it contains pupils differing so widely in 
age, accomplishment, and mental capacity that our 

32 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 35 

Berkeley reorganization in 1920. In both cities prog- 
ress toward the above goal has been gradual rather 
than revolutionary in nature. There has been no at- 
tempt to force upon all schools a cut-and-dried system, 
but school after school has dropped into the general 
plan as the most natural way of working. Various de- 
partures are allowed in order to meet the exigencies of 
different situations. No rule can regulate the classifica- 
tion of a school according to the capacity of pupils to 
learn; no two schools can be treated exactly alike; 
the machinery must be subject to constant adjustment. 
A rule might be stated, "Find the mental ability of the 
pupil and place him where he belongs, taking careful 
consideration of his age, former accomplishment in 
school, health, and any other condition which is known 
to have a bearing upon his proper placement." To 
attempt to define what shall be done has a tendency to 
make for mechanical treatment of children, while what 
must be kept uppermost is that the individual needs of 
each child should be met as nearly as possible. The 
school must come more and more to consider individu- 
als rather than masses or groups. However, for the sake 
of having a common language by which we may make 
ourselves understood, administratively, we have at- 
tempted to define five general types of classes — acceler- 
ated, normal, opportunity, limited, atypical. All of 
these except the normal classes are termed "Special 
Classes." These special classes differ from the regular 
classes in that they are permitted to vary the content of 
the course of study, or the rate of progress of pupils, 
or both. 

Special Accelerated Classes are for those pupils who 



36 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

have superior mental capacity. Any group of children 
moved on together from one class toward a higher 
group at a rate more rapid than normal is classified 
under this head. 

Special Opportunity Classes are for those children 
who have good mental capacity, but because of illness, 
moving about, or other reason are working in grades 
below where they should be. The purpose of these 
classes is to give such help as is needed to enable the 
pupil quickly to take up work with a regular class 
which fits his capacity and needs. 

Special Limited Classes are for children who are so 
slow or dull mentally that they cannot keep pace with 
regular class work. The purpose of such classes is to 
accommodate the over-age, slow pupil, modifying the 
content of the course of study and the rate of progress 
so that such pupils may pass up through the grades, 
getting the most essential parts of the work of each 
grade and passing on for some training in the upper 
grammar grades or junior high school before the com- 
pulsory age limit is reached. Most of these pupils, if 
held to a rigid standard of regular grades, would 
reach the compulsory age limit and pass out into indus- 
trial life long before finishing the elementary grades. 
The maximum enrollment is ordinarily 25 to 30 pupils, 
as compared with 40 to 50 for the normal classes. 

Special Atypical Classes are for children who are 
found, by actual trial in school work and by mental 
test, to show such mental retardation that they cannot 
make satisfactory progress in a regular class with a rea- 
sonable expenditure of time and effort. The pupils in 
such classes usually have a mental retardation of three 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 37 

years or more. These classes are limited to an enroll- 
ment of 16 pupils. The course of study varies widely 
from that of the regular classes, manual work being 
strongly emphasized. It should be noted that the 
"opportunity" and "atypical" classes are in a sense 
subsidiary, both belonging in the limited group. The 
principal of each school, with the assistance of the 
Bureau of Research and Guidance, organizes the classes 
in his school so that each child may be placed where he 
can do best, considering the working conditions of that 
school, such as the number of teachers, the number of 
rooms available, and the number of pupils of a given 
classification. 

Following is the working organization of one of our 
large schools : 

The Lincoln School is an elementary school of eight 
grades, located in the heart of the city. It has 30 teach- 
ers, and 1044 pupils of widely varying social classes 
drawn from an elite fashionable district, from the 
waterfront, and from an Oriental section. This school 
has seven special limited classes and one opportunity 
class. The remaining 22 classes are termed, "normal." 
A few of the lowest atypical children are sent to a 
neighboring school which has an atypical class. Su- 
perior children are cared for by special promotion and 
by means of the special opportunity class. In addition, 
most of the teachers have still further classification 
within their rooms by making two or more divisions ac- 
cording to mental capacity. Figure 1 shows clearly 
the general organization of the school (seventh and 
eighth departmental classes omitted) . 

Two of the seven limited classes of this school are 



38 



TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 



Fig. 1. Lincoln School, Oakland; Showing Interquartile Range 
and Median Age, Mental Age and IQ of Each Grade (7th and 8th 
Departmental Classes Omitted). Basis September 1 



S 8 



O O i-* o 



s s 






a« 



S S E 



t S £ 



« e 



-a— s- 



s 

i 

-3-3- 



1 1 



-a— a — * 



4-3- 



V Cu a. <D * p, * v « (IT a 



1 1 1 I i s 



CCff 

ill 
ii H H 



JS 1 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 43 

and interest in the work and by adding to their knowl- 
edge of the individual child. It has also noticeably de- 
creased the problems of discipline among pupils and 
has brought about a more delightful school atmosphere 
both among teachers and among pupils. 

The organization of this one school has been de- 
scribed in some detail not because it is considered ideal, 
but in order to give a fairly concrete idea of how the 
problem of individual differences has been dealt with 
in one typical school. In some of our other schools the 
situation is in certain respects different. For example, 
if space permitted it would be interesting to describe 
the organization in the Prescott School, which is a 
waterfront school having the most serious over-age 
problem of all the schools in Oakland. This school has 
25 normal classes enrolling 965 pupils, and 10 special 
limited classes with an enrollment of 232. That is, 
the limited-class enrollment is approximately a fourth 
as large as that of the normal classes. Contrasting with 
this is the Claremont School, which is located in an 
excellent residence district. In this school there are, in 
addition to 573 pupils in 17 normal classes, 8 acceler- 
ated classes enrolling 400 pupils, but only 2 limited 
classes with a total enrollment of 46 pupils. There is 
also an opportunity class of 29 pupils. A large propor- 
tion of the children in this school save from one half 
year to two years in the elementary course. 

The Lincoln, the Prescott, and the Claremont schools 
are typical of others in various parts of the city. 

The total enrollment of the elementary schools of 
Oakland at present is 26,647. There are 18 special 
atypical classes with an enrollment of 288 (1.0 per cent) ; 



44 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

57 special limited classes with an enrollment of approx- 
imately 1555 (5.8 per cent); and 16 opportunity classes 
with an enrollment of 303 (1.1 per cent). The special 
accelerated pupils number 2583 or approximately 10 
per cent. These represent only the authorized segrega- 
tions. Many classes not formally authorized are 
working according to the general scheme here pro- 
posed. Many others would be organized if it were ad- 
ministratively possible. Here the chief difficulty is 
that of finding sufficient rooms and furnishing a few 
additional teachers. 

The special accelerated classes for superior children 
are less definitely organized than other classes. Many 
such classes or groups are to be found in the city, but a 
consistent effort is being made to keep them from com- 
ing into any special prominence. Two plans are being 
tried out: (1) an enriched course of study with prac- 
tically normal pace; (2) increased speed with less en- 
richment of curriculum. By one or the other of these 
plans approximately 10 per cent of the pupils below the 
high school in Oakland are receiving some special op- 
portunity due to recognized mental superiority. About 
75 per cent of the superior children are making rapid 
progress, and about 25 per cent are given an enriched 
program. Many of these pupils are receiving their extra 
attention as individuals or in small groups through 
special promotion or through the special coaching that is 
provided in opportunity classes. Although the above 
figures show that we are not forgetting the superior 
child in the classification program which we have set 
before us, our work thus far is only tentative and we 
hope soon to be able to make much improvement in the 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 45 

manner of handling these accelerated pupils and to 
make special provision for a larger number. 

SPECIAL CLASSIFICATION IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS 

As the classification in the elementary school de- 
velops into greater perfection, a large number of over- 
age pupils with comparatively low mental ability are 
thrown into the junior high school. This makes it im- 
perative that some scheme of special classification be 
carried on through the junior high school. Following is 
an illustration of one of our best classifications in a 
junior high school (the Edison School, Berkeley). 
Figure 2 shows the median score — Army Alpha Group 
Mental Test — for each of the classes of the Edison 
School. This school accommodates pupils in Grades 
7, 8, and 9. In the low-seventh grade there are four 
divisions: L-7 one, L-7 two, L-7 three, L-7 four, four 
being the lowest division and one being the highest 
division. The third and fourth divisions of the L-7 
grade are special classes and represent very weak stu- 
dents from the academic point of view. If held to rigid 
standards of work, some of these pupils would still be 
classed with fourth, fifth, or sixth grades. All of them, 
however, are over-age even for the L-7 grade in which 
they have been placed. They have been promoted into 
the junior high school because they were past the age of 
thirteen, chronologically, and had also reached the 
place where there seemed little if any chance to profit 
by remaining in the elementary grades. Socially, they 
belong with the junior high school group, and both 
socially and intellectually they are misfits in the ele- 
mentary groups. These pupils are carefully studied 



46 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

with reference to any special abilities or aptitudes which 
they have. Whenever it is possible for an individual 
to show accomplishment that is satisfactory, he is 
placed in a regular class in any one or more subjects as 
his accomplishment indicates. He is given special- 
class development for the rest of his work. 

The H-7 grade has four divisions. (See Figure 2.) 
The fourth division, containing 16 pupils, is very 
inferior (atypical); the third, containing 27 pupils, is 
inferior, special limited type; the second, containing 
29 pupils, is normal; and the first, with 32 pupils, 
is superior. The L-8 grade has three divisions. The 
second and third divisions are very inferior, while 
the first division is average. For some reason, un- 
explained at present, the L-8 grade class as a whole 
seems very inferior compared with the H-7 grade class 
as a whole. In the H-8 grade there are three divisions, 
the third being very inferior, while the other two rank 
normal or above. In the L-9 and H-9 grades there are 
but two classifications, the second representing those 
below normal, the first those normal or superior. This 
figure clearly illustrates the fact well known to all 
observers, that the pupils of inferior intelligence and 
those who have difficulty with their academic work in 
the school are the ones who drop out. While the seventh 
grade has need for four divisions, the eighth grade has 
but three and the ninth grade but two. Most of the 
third and fourth division pupils of the L-7 grade drop 
out of school before they reach the ninth grade, but, 
according to former practices in our schools, most of 
those classified in the third and fourth divisions in the 
seventh grade would never have reached the seventh 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 47 

Fig 2. Edison School (Junior High), Army Alpha Group Test 
\Scot-e 



So-- 



<3o-- 



70-- 



60- • 



SO-- 



.,*> V.N, 



CO Qq <0 0) o\ 



— M — mee/ian ^sccre for &rc?c/<2 

CLASS MEDIANS 






Class 


No. 


M . Score 


Class 


No. 


M. Score 


Class 


No. 


M. Score 


L-7, 


32 


67 


1-8, 


36 


81.5 


L-9, 


35 


101 


L-7 2 


29 


64 


L-8 2 


31 


63 


L-9 2 


30 


74 


L-7 3 


27 


46 


L-8 3 


25 


58 


H-9, 


39 


94 


L-7 4 


16 


43.5 


H-8, 


26 


84 


H-9 2 


31 


83 


H-7, 


39 


86 


H-8 2 


24 


78 





— 


— 


H-7 2 


35 


69 


H-8 3 


20 


59 





— 


— 


H-7 3 


27 


63 




— 


— 





— 


— 


H-7 4 


12 


49 




— 


— 





— 


— 



GRADE MEDIANS 

7L 7H 8L 8H 9L 9H 
56.5 70 68 76 89 93 



48 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

grade at all. The tendency to hold those who formerly 
dropped out is indicated by the fact that the classifica- 
tion for this school which has already been made out for 
next term involves adding one more division to each of 
the grades — a fifth division for Grade 7, a fourth for 
Grade 8, and a third for Grade 9. The pupils of these 
limited classes are better prospects for good citizenship 
because of the year or two of experience with junior 
high school pupils of their own age, with instruction 
aimed definitely toward civic and social relationships 
required of useful members of society. 

The first special class for this junior high school was 
composed of thirteen over-age boys and girls who had 
low mental test ratings and who were judged by the 
teacher and principal as unable to profit by further ex- 
perience in the elementary school. They were taken 
from Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. The next term came an- 
other special class selected from fourth, fifth, and sixth 
grades. For five succeeding terms this junior high 
school has conducted limited classes for over-age, dull 
pupils who formerly were required to work in Grades 
3 to 6. If space permitted, it would be interesting to tell 
how well most of these pupils did compared with their 
former records. There is unanimous agreement in our 
executive and teaching staff to continue and to enlarge 
this work. 

The above description reveals the nature of the pupils 
who are classified in these special limited classes in the 
junior high school. The course of study for these pupils 
varies according to the needs of each particular class. 
As a matter of fact, the classes are kept very small and 
the needs of each individual are studied carefully and 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 49 

are met as nearly as it is possible for the school to meet 
them. The first problem is to appeal to the interests 
of the pupil and to his sense of social justice as a citizen 
of the school and then as a citizen of the community. 
Opportunities are offered for exposure to manual train- 
ing, sheet metal work, printing, electrical work, agri- 
cultural work, and general science or other vocational 
or semi- vocational subjects. Sewing, cooking, and home 
making are strongly emphasized for the girls. Music, 
including singing, band, and orchestra, has been won- 
derful as a means of getting a hold on some of these 
pupils. Each child is urged to develop strongly that 
work in which he shows good efficiency, and through 
that field his interests are led into other lines of work 
which his counselor feels he can and should do. 

Just as in the elementary school, so in the junior high 
school, the removal of special limited-class pupils from 
the regular classes relieves both the teacher and the 
class of a great weight. These regular classes are able to 
do far better work than was formerly possible with the 
mixed groups. All groups are stirred to better activity 
by more natural and normal competition. The groups 
representing superior intelligence cover an enriched 
program in each subject and many pupils are permitted 
to carry one or more extra subjects, thus decreasing the 
time necessary to finish the junior high school course. A 
few experiments have been carried on in which a su- 
perior class has singled out a particular subject — 
English, for example — and has covered an entire 
year's work in a half year. It is yet undecided whether, 
as a policy, it is better to have an enriched program and 
a larger number of subjects, or an enriched program 



50 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

and more rapid speed. In any event, there is general 
agreement that the accelerated pupils shall have an 
enriched program. 

THE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 

The policy of segregation does not stop with the 
elementary school and the junior high school. The very 
fact that we are carrying many of these special limited- 
class pupils up through the grades means that the 
senior high school is now receiving a large number of 
regular day pupils that formerly left school for one 
cause or another before reaching the high school. These 
pupils are clearly not capable of carrying the standard 
course as laid down in our regularly accredited high 
schools. The senior high school must, therefore, face 
the problem of furnishing courses of study adapted to 
the needs of these children and making proper classi- 
fication for them, or must give them a trial at work 
which they cannot do, fail them, and pass them out. 
As a matter of fact, our senior high schools are rapidly 
adjusting themselves to this new problem, are making 
classifications according to brightness, and are varying 
the courses of study as well as offering a large number of 
electives. The plan of electives, however, has very 
little real bearing upon our problem. It is just as 
absurd to classify dull pupils and bright pupils to- 
gether in shop mathematics as in algebra, in commercial 
English as in Latin. The high school must classify 
according to brightness and must offer modified courses 
of study, or the present standards for academic work 
will fall. 

In such subjects as English, general science, and 



CLASSIFICATION BY MENTAL ABILITY 51 

mathematics, where several classes are scheduled, some 
of our high schools have arranged for three divisions, 
the first division for superior pupils and the third for 
inferior. The first-division pupils are sometimes given 
an enriched program and sometimes more rapid pro- 
motion, while the third-division classes are given a mod- 
ified course of study. Also, superior pupils as individ- 
uals are permitted to carry a larger number of units of 
work, thus enabling them to shorten the period required 
for high school graduation. This extra-unit plan also 
fails to offer much aid in the solution of our problem. It 
merely helps to keep some of the brighter pupils more 
fully occupied. We are now placing on our high schools 
a new responsibility, that of "educating" a large 
number of pupils who are of high school age but are 
admittedly unable to cope with the requirements of the 
standard high school curriculum. 

SUMMARY 

The graded system with annual and semiannual 
promotions has failed to produce homogeneous group- 
ings in our public schools. 

The misfits in present grade grouping are due largely 
to improper classification by mental level and uniform 
requirements in course of study. 

Each school tends to a classification according to the 
brightness of pupils of that neighborhood. A standard 
classification is needed for administrative purposes. 

The needs of all classes of pupils can be more fully 
met at little if any additional expense by a multiple- 
track system adapted to pupils of superior, normal, or 
inferior intelligence. This system involves differences 



52 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

in rate of progress through the grades and differences in 
content of course of study. 

The system is more democratic than former systems 
because it offers to every child a freer opportunity to 
use his full capacity. 

Limited classes keep dull pupils longer in school by 
giving work better suited to their needs. 

Experiments carried on in elementary, junior high, 
and senior high schools by classifying pupils according 
to brightness have demonstrated the feasibility of the 
plan. 

Modifications are being worked out for the courses of 
study, adapting them to a three-track plan, and the 
operation of the system of classification is being con- 
tinued and enlarged in the Oakland and Berkeley public 
schools. 



CHAPTER THREE 

Methods of Individual Instruction in the Ad- 
justment Rooms of Los Angeles 

A. H. Sutherland, Director of Department of Psychology 
and Educational Research, Los Angeles, California 

Editor's Introduction 

Those who are acquainted with Dr. Sutherland's Adjustment 
Room work in Los Angeles agree that he has made a contribution of 
unusual importance. According to the editor's view its value lies 
in the demonstration of the fact that much if not all of the curricu- 
lum material can be so presented as to make possible a thorough- 
going system of individual instruction. It is unfortunate that the 
space limitations of this chapter are such as to make impossible a 
detailed presentation of the ingenious project material into which 
Dr. Sutherland has divided up the Los Angeles course of study. 
For a satisfactory exposition of his methods nothing less than a 
volume would suffice, and it is to be hoped that Dr. Sutherland will 
soon find the time to prepare such a volume. 

The reader will inevitably ask why methods which have proved 
so successful with adjustment cases should not prove equally suc- 
cessful with children in general. And why should they not? At 
any rate, the experiment ought to be made. Even if Dr. Suther- 
land's plan should not prove universally applicable, there is one 
presupposition behind it which deserves the strongest possible em- 
phasis ; namely, that curriculum material should be thoroughly stand- 
ardized according to difficulty for the different mental age levels. 
(L. M. T.) 

STUDYING THE CURRICULUM FROM THE STANDPOINT 
OF THE CHILD 

An unusual opportunity was presented on the occasion 
of the influenza epidemic in Los Angeles. During this 
period a group of teachers, assigned to the Department 
of Psychology, undertook a detailed study of types of 

53 



54 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

lessons in Grades 1 to 6. The interest then initiated 
among this group of teachers was sufficient to keep 
them at work during the next three years. Courses of 
study of this and other cities were studied and com- 
pared and types of lessons were submitted and reviewed 
with the following question in mind: "What is there 
about this lesson that has proved to be difficult?" The 
teachers, being experienced, had no trouble in finding 
a wealth of illustration. The questions then asked were, 
"Why is it difficult?" and "How did you succeed in 
overcoming the difficulty?" 

From these meetings there has resulted a course of 
study in minimum essentials, covering Grades 1 to 6. 
Each general topic has been divided into particulars, 
and each particularly difficult lesson or process has been 
noted. 

The Department, which was just then engaged on the 
task of reorganizing the Ungraded Rooms, pursued this 
problem farther. For our purpose it was found that the 
course of study must be presented in other terms. No 
two teachers could agree as to the exact requirements 
of this course, or of the other courses of study pre- 
sented. Attempts to define led to illustration. A par- 
ticular child needed the subject matter in terms of 
an objective, and to supply the need the course of study 
material became far less important than the objectives 
to which it was applied. The question was asked, "Why 
not take these illustrations as typical lessons?" When 
this proposal received assent, another striking fact was 
apparent; namely, that each teacher tended to prepare 
lessons similar to others of her own production and dif- 
ferent from those prepared by any other teacher. Evi- 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 55 

dently the children in one classroom are likely to be- 
come super-saturated with the "methods" of one 
teacher. Would it not be well for each teacher to col- 
lect from other teachers samples of their lessons and 
thus be able to present other points of view, other 
"methods," and other values? These points being 
agreed to, with the help of the school psychologist the 
following analyses were made: 

(1) The aim or goal of the pupil toward which each 
lesson seemed to contribute; 

(2) The mental attitude required of pupil in grasping 

and applying the concepts involved in the lesson ; 

(3) The variety of mental processes involved (analyz- 
ing, classifying, generalizing, remembering, sim- 
plifying, criticizing, emphasizing, estimating, con- 
structing, predicting) . 

PRESENTING THE CURRICULUM TO THE CHILD 

If it is possible to state the course of study in terms 
sufficiently clear to be fully comprehended by the 
teacher, the statement must take the general form of a 
set of directions as to what the child is to do. When the 
question of motivation is considered in the same 
connection, it is only a step to the suggestion that the 
course of study should be directed to the child instead of 
to the teacher. This suggestion was adopted at once for 
the special rooms, and later the form was used by the 
superintendent of schools in the new course of study for 
the city. 

PRINCIPLES OF GROUPING SUBJECTS AND TOPICS 

Questions as to the difference between preliminary 
studies such as phonics, drill subjects such as number 



56 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

combinations, and content subjects such as history, 
were thoughtfully considered and the following con- 
clusions arrived at: 

(1) Reading is the fundamental subject. All content 
subjects must be read. The difference between pre- 
liminary reading, reading for reading's sake, reading for 
literary values, reading for information, and reading for 
discipline is chiefly in the direction of attention and 
the mental activity. The reading of arithmetic prob- 
lems, which occasions so much difficulty, is, after all, 
reading. And in a general way this process may be 
classified as receptive (due regard being given to the 
fact that every act of reception is an action and there- 
fore an expression). 

(2) On the other hand, the expression of thoughts, 
orally and in writing, is psychologically of importance 
equal to reading. Penmanship, spelling, familiarity 
with sentence structure, language, and composition are 
intended to function automatically in the expression of 
ideas, and must therefore be exercised in this relation- 
ship. "Written expression" is the name given to this 
part of our modified course of study. 

(3) Number work of the formal sort is provided for 
by such devices as those of Courtis and Studebaker. 
Pupils who have special need for such drills, apart from 
reading and organizing of numerical values of problems, 
can receive it. 

SAMPLES OF CURRICULUM MATERIAL 

The minimum essentials of the course of study are 
now divided into projects, each with a definite objective 
and directions which will set the pupil into mental ac- 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 57 

tivity under the control of a general mental attitude. 
For each such Project there is a Project Test, which 
serves for purposes of "placement" of pupils on enter- 
ing the special room. For each Project there is a group 
of Practice Exercises, which are sample lessons in the 
form which will require mental activity of a particular 
sort (as enumerated above). The Projects of the follow- 
ing list are worked out in detail for each grade, for two 
levels in each grade, and for a variety of applications 

at each level: 

Reading Projects 

A. How many numbers can you identify (find) per minute? 

B. How many numbers can you pronounce (say) per minute? 

C. How many words can you identify (find) per minute? 

D. How many words can you pronounce (say) per minute? 

E. How many words in sentences can you read per minute? 

F. How much of what you read can you repeat? 

G. How well can you follow directions? 

H. How many numbers can you evaluate per minute? 

/. How well can you define words? 

J. How Well Do You Understand What You Read? 

K. How much of what you have studied can you remember? 

L. How well can you read maps and tables? 

On the following page is a sample of Project Test 
(Reading Test J, Level VI, Part I) for upper third 
grade. In the left margin the mental processes which 
that part of the test is supposed to call forth are noted. 



Time 


Not over 
15 min. 


Comprehension 





58 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Reading Test J, Level VI, Part I 
Project: Reading Comprehension.. Score 

Name 

Date 

School 

How much do you know about what you read? 

a. Finish these sentences: 

1. Ink is darker than •. 

2. Is the baby awake or ? 

3. They play all day and sleep all . 

4. Her dress was new, but now it is . 

5. The sand was not wet, but . 

6'. Don't play with eggs because . 

7. When you paint a picture, the things you need are . 

b. Draw lines from the word cat to all the things that cats do. 
Draw lines from the word dog to all the things that dogs do 

bark 
eat 
mew 
cat scratch dog 

purr 
growl 

c. Read this to yourself, and then follow the directions on the 

other side of this page: 

John and his dog stood under a large pine tree at the edge of 
the rocky cliff. Below, the noisy waves were breaking against 
the rocks. It made John laugh to hear the dog bark back at 
them. Hearing a ship horn, John looked out to sea. A fishing 
boat was coming in. As it came nearer, John could see the 
fishermen in their bright sweaters and the big nets full of fish. 

Tell the things you saw. 

Tell the sounds you heard. 

d. Finish these sentences: 

1. Fish have fins where birds have . 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 59 

2. Fish swim, while kittens . 

3. We use fish to , we use shoes to wear. 

4. A fish in a net is like a fox in a . 

Reading Test, Level J, Part II 

Score 



Time 


1 min. 


No. correct 





Read each of these examples. Tell how you would do them on the 
line after each example. Write Add, Sub., Mult., or Div. 

1. There are 48 seats in the car. How many seats are there in 6 

cars of the same size? 

2. 432 eggs are to be put into 3 crates. How many eggs will there 

be in each crate? 

3. If Ford runabouts cost $485, what will three of them cost? 

4. On a cattle ranch there were 673,450 cattle. Because there was 

no rain, 92,385 died. How many were left? 

The following is a sample of Practice Exercise at the 
same level, for one of the Comprehension Projects. 
There are fifty of these Practice Exercises at this level, 
for this particular Project. 

Robinson Crusoe, Chapter 14, Reading Level VI, Exercise No. 1+0 
How well do you understand what you read? Reading Level VI J 

Read Chapter 14 and time yourself on this exercise. 

1. Change these sentences so that they tell the truth: 

Robinson used his first canoe for his trip. 
Robinson was soon out of sight of land. 
Robinson could not find a sheltered place to land. 

2. From trip draw a line to everything that Robinson took with 

him on his trip: 

umbrella fishing rod canteen gun powder 

trip 
hoe rice blankets bread looking glass 



60 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

3. Fill the blanks: 

A steamer is larger than a , just as a is larger than 

a baseball. 

It is easier to paddle when the sea is than when it is 

rough. 

A current moving through the is like a wind blowing 

through the air. 

4. Underline the things which helped Robinson get back to land: 

A wind his sail his gun his paddle 

the clear water his muscles 

Score 



Time 




No. right 





5. Draw a picture of Robinson's boat, as you think it must have 

looked, or the island as it must have looked from his boat. 

6. Imagine you are Robinson out at sea. This is what you are 

saying as the current carries you away. For each blank put 
a word that means you: 

Robinson's Lament 

''Help! Help! 'm drifting out to sea! 

call ; there's none to answer . 

Oh! little home where was safe and well 

Oh! little island! what a magic spell 

There falls upon as 'm torn away 

Helpless, alone, upon the ocean gray!" 
How did you feel as you said this? 

THE ADJUSTMENT ROOM 

Individual differences in physical and mental endow- 
ment, in home and neighborhood environment, in home 
encouragement and restraint, and in ability to make 
satisfactory school progress under average conditions 
— all these theoretically receive recognition; but unfor- 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 61 

tunately helpful detailed instructions for modifying the 
curriculum so as to adjust it to such differences are too 
often lacking. In many school systems so-called Un- 
graded Rooms have been provided, with a teacher in 
charge who has received training which fits her to ad- 
minister the course of study only in the usual way. The 
consequence has been that the ungraded room, instead 
of giving an exceptional opportunity to pupils, has too 
often become a threat, a punishment, a catch-all for 
school problems, and a dumping ground. 

The Adjustment Room is different. Imagine a room 
in which the children are not sitting in prim rows or in 
good order; where each child is recognized as an indi- 
vidual who is there for a purpose, and who is so busy in 
developing his own ideas along the lines of the above- 
described course of study that he feels perfectly free to 
walk, ask or receive help from another child, consult the 
teacher, or refer to the list of projects which stretch be- 
fore him. Imagine a room in which the pupils do most of 
the correcting and marking and in which the teacher 
spends most of the time in encouraging, explaining, and 
restraining (when need be) instead of hearing "recita- 
tions" and disciplining pupils. Imagine a room in which 
the pupils grade themselves, make their own daily pro- 
grams, and keep graphs of daily progress; where the 
standard of performance required is 100 per cent as to 
quality, instead of 70 per cent, and where the standard 
score as to accuracy and speed of work is also required. 
Such a condition obtains in the Upper Adjustment 
Room (Grades 4 to 6), and in the Primary Adjustment 
Room (Grades 1 to 3) so far as the number of second 
and third grade pupils will permit. It is usually true 



62 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

that no two children are working at the same level. In- 
deed, it is soon found that if two children are started at 
the same level they will very soon cease to remain so. 

SELECTING THE PUPILS FOR AN ADJUSTMENT ROOM 

The test of efficient schools is a demonstration of the 
development of all the abilities which each child pos- 
sesses. When any child has attracted attention by his 
failures and is referred to the psychologist, he is exam- 
ined, not to justify the judgment of the teacher, but to 
determine wherein his strengths and weaknesses lie. 
Mental and educational surveys help to direct attention 
to the conditions existing in any room and are valuable 
also in pointing out particular children who need help. 
But it is frequently found that the child who fails on a 
group test is considered a very satisfactory scholar. 
The reverse is also true. Individual examinations, both 
mental and educational, often reveal particular diffi- 
culties or complete lack of ability in a child who is rated 
as satisfactory. Such children, as well as "misfits," are 
placed upon the waiting list of the Adjustment Room. 

THE TRAINING OF THE CHILD 

The first step in the training of a child to become in- 
dependent, to fix his mind upon a definite goal, and to 
work for achievement, is finding his actual level of 
development. This is done by "Placement Tests." 
The real cause of failure of the child may lie far below his 
present level. The "Placement Test" is simply an 
individual examination in school subject matter, sup- 
plemented by questions or other devices to demonstrate 
the child's understanding. Speed and accuracy tests in 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 63 

subject matter also are used and the performance com- 
pared with standard achievements. Owing to the num- 
ber of such children to be examined, a mental test is 
given only when its need seems to be evident. (When a 
teacher has become sufficiently familiar with her task, 
and is accredited, she takes charge of the testing, 
and in such rooms every child receives a mental test.) 

TEACHING THE CHILD TO USE THE MATERIALS 

After being "placed," each child knows the number 
of the project in reading, number, and written expres- 
sion at which he is to begin his progress. He is shown 
how to select for each subject the practice exercises 
which have been prescribed for him, and how to take 
them to his seat and work upon them until he feels he 
has mastered them. He times himself, or has some 
other child time him, if the nature of the practice is such 
as to require it. He may ask some child who is farther 
advanced to assist in checking his work in the self- 
scoring exercises. When he feels he is ready for a test, 
he goes to the teacher for a project test. If that is sat- 
isfactorily completed, he takes from his folder a prog- 
ress card, on which he records the date at which he 
passed that particular project. He then goes to the 
cabinet for the next group of exercises. 

MAKING HIS DAILY PROGRAM 

From a list of activities on the board, each child 
makes his own daily program, which is scrutinized from 
time to time by the teacher. If he is particularly weak 
in number combinations, he will devote a larger amount 
of time to that subject. If he is weak in arithmetical 



64 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

reading, he can secure an extra amount of practice in 
that field. But each child's program will include some 
study in each branch. 

CLASS EXERCISES 

Each teacher has been encouraged to modify her 
daily program to suit the needs of the children. She is 
urged to devote at least one fourth of the day to group 
exercises such as group speed practice in arithmetic, 
oral English, etc. Aside from this, the child spends his 
time in supervised study. Instead of spending one 
twentieth of the time (in a class of twenty) in recitation 
and nineteen twentieths of the time in attending or not 
attending to what is going on in the class, he spends 
twenty twentieths of his time in an active effort to 
improve upon his record of yesterday. He competes 
against himself instead of against some other child of 
superior or inferior mentality. He has an opportunity 
to create a mental environment of his own, mental hab- 
its and attitudes of his own, and is held back by no one 
else. He is at all times working for a definite goal 
which is within his comprehension. He secures an im- 
mediate reward for increased ability in his satisfaction 
upon recording another step of progress. (Some teach- 
ers have the pupils keep this record, in colored crayons, 
on the board.) 

AS AN OBSERVATION ROOM 

Under such conditions it is at once possible to note 
the laggard, to detect particular kinds of difficulty, 
to watch the different varieties of temperament, and to 
discover the presence of many hidden factors which 
deter the pupil. Physical handicaps, ranging from weak 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 65 

eyes and bad habits of respiration to constitutional 
weakness and inferiority, soon come to the surface. 
While an effort is made to keep from the room all 
children who show evidence of serious physical disability 
or feeble-mindedness, the room has been used as a place 
in which any child can try himself out when there is 
any doubt of his ability. Children believed to be fee- 
ble-minded by both teachers and parents have proved 
not to be so. There is a constancy about the conditions 
which makes it easy to judge of the real abilities of the 
children, in contrast with the variable conditions and 
the lack of personal contacts in the ordinary classroom. 

AS A ROOM FOR EDUCATIONAL THERAPEUTICS 

"Diagnosis is half the cure." The mind which is un- 
folding its abilities naturally and fully is rare. As the 
results given later will show, the child who is backward 
or a misfit, provided he is not clearly feeble-minded, can 
often make rapid progress when he is given proper in- 
centives and shown the way. More frequently than any 
other cause, a lack of confidence is at the root of the 
child's difficulties. By proving to himself that he can 
do the thing he was afraid of, often by beginning at a 
lower and easier level, he gains confidence. Such fear- 
attitudes are often inculcated by the parents and some- 
times by teachers. (Witness the mother who reiterates 
regarding her child's difficulty with arithmetic, "Why, 
I never was able to do arithmetic myself, so my child 
comes by it naturally.") 

Wandering attention and inability to concentrate are 
frequent causes of school failure. A child who is running 
in the 25-yard dash has no difficulty in concentration. 



66 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Neither has the child who is working in a speed exer- 
cise. The habit of concentration can be formed by repe- 
tition, just as any other habit. 

Lack of the necessary knowledge prerequisites has 
accounted for numerous failures. The Adjustment 
Rooms have frequently been criticized for "placing" a 
child too low in order to make a record. The fact that a 
child has been "over" the subject guarantees no mas- 
tery of it. To develop independence by self-help, it is 
necessary that all such weaknesses be eradicated. 

Wrong attitudes toward work, such as laziness, 
"don't like the teacher," etc., have been overcome in all 
but a very few cases. The motivations are such as grip 
children of the earlier years. There is an objectivity 
about the work which brings the teacher and pupil to 
the same point of view, and the pupil soon begins to 
view the teacher as a helper and not as a critic. 

THE ADJUSTMENT-ROOM TEACHER 

Many teachers will not care for the methods of the 
Adjustment Room. There is nothing routine about it. 
Also, everything done must be registered in some way. 
The teacher who likes to "hang on to" the bright pupils 
because they are such a joy will be disappointed. The 
teacher who "just hates" to teach dull pupils will be 
equally aggrieved. The teacher who has learned, by 
years of unfortunate experience, to love the prim and 
orderly rows of dear ones, who whisper not, neither do 
they chew paper wads, and who are taught at great 
pains to stand just so and to hold the book at the 
proper level in the left hand, finds no good opportunity 
for the expression of her talents. The teacher of the 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 67 

Adjustment Room, must be specially trained not to 
occupy the center of the stage, not to gather a family 
around her and entertain them, not to coach, not to 
perform tasks for the pupils, not to occupy the time of 
the pupils with her own ideas. On the contrary, she 
must have full and free opportunity to devote herself 
to the discovery of particular educational and mental 
needs of the children, and to use her best judgment in 
the adaptation of school materials (or in the invention 
of others) to the satisfaction of those needs. 

TRAINING THE ADJUSTMENT-ROOM TEACHER 

Certificated teachers (graduates of a normal school or 
college) must learn how to make the group and indi- 
vidual tests, how to interpret them, and how they are 
standardized. They must also study the course of 
study and determine why each part and lesson of it has 
a function and just what its objective is. They must 
think of it as far as possible in terms of a child mind 
which is developing with an increasing self-control. 
They must learn the technique of teaching under the 
controlling thought that the pupil should learn and 
not be developed. 

FUNCTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY AND 
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH 

Teachers who are allowed to the department make 
waiting lists from which principals transfer the pupils 
to the Adjustment Rooms. These teachers conduct 
educational and mental surveys and follow these by 
individual examinations. They assist the Adjustment 
Room teacher in making special studies of difficult cases, 



68 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

and by their wider range of experience and opportunity 
for comparisons are often able to give valuable advice as 
to methods of saving time and energy. They are "help- 
ing" teachers. The department also maintains a clerical 
staff for the standardization of the tests and setting of 
performance standards. 

RESULTS IN TERMS OF SCHOOL PROGRESS 

The Los Angeles schools now maintain 52 Adjustment 
Rooms and 26 Development Rooms (for feeble-minded). 
Over 3000 pupils have been enrolled in the Adjustment 
Rooms during the past two years. Of the first 200 pu- 
pils, the following figures will show something of the 
progress made by these pupils who previously were con- 
sidered "misfits" in the grades: 

5 per cent were returned to the grade after a short trial. In most of these the 

difficulty had been poor sight, absence, or ill health 
1^/2 per cent were recommended to a Development Room as feeble-minded 
923^ per cent were given instruction in the Adjustment Rooms for a period 

of time and then recommended to a grade 
Median time in the room, 13 weeks 
Median rate of progress, 4.35 weeks' work covered per week 

To discover to what extent the weakness or backward- 
ness had been corrected permanently, a report was 
asked as to the success of each child in the grade to 
which he had been sent. At the end of three months it 
was found that 303^ per cent could not be traced, but 
of the remainder, 90.4 per cent were reported satisfac- 
torily prepared and making good progress. Of the next 
500 children 

1 x /2 per cent were returned to grade, the difficulty having been due to ill 

health or absence 
4 per cent were recommended to Development Rooms (feeble-minded) 
For the remainder 

Median time in room, 11 weeks 

Median rate of progress, 4.3 weeks' work per week 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 69 

A third of these could not be traced at the end of three 
months, and of the remainder, 93.4 per cent were re- 
ported as satisfactorily prepared and making good 
progress. 

In another district of the city, 300 children are re- 
corded as follows: 

1 .2 per cent were returned to grade 

19 per cent were recommended to Development Rooms (feeble-minded) 

For the remainder 

Median time in room, 10 weeks 

Median rate of progress, 4 weeks' work per week 

At the end of three months, 19 per cent could not be 
traced, and of the remainder 94.5 per cent were re- 
ported as satisfactorily prepared and making good 
progress. 

RESULTS IN CHARACTER FORMATION 

A member of the board of education visited an Ad- 
justment Room in a certain district, where the boys 
and girls of the room were for the most part juvenile 
court cases. He afterward quoted one of the members 
of the class as follows : "Awgwan! Cut it out! I've only 
got three minutes till the bell rings and I've got to finish 
this Project!" There are some elements of character 
which present tests do not attempt to touch. Those 
who are in most intimate contact with the Adjustment 
Rooms are convinced that a new sense of values comes 
out strongly in the boys and girls who are forming hab- 
its and attitudes under these conditions. Is it too much 
to hope that when teachers become expert in the diag- 
nosis and treatment of particular mental conditions, 
the dependent may become independent, the erratic 



70 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

may learn self-control, the thoughtless may learn self- 
criticism, the slovenly of thought may become definite, 
the careless learn self-correction, and those who lack 
initiative learn to attack new problems with vigor? 

And the best of it is that the pupils know what is 
happening to them. As one boy put it, "Gee! my 
teacher won't know me when I go back to the grades!" 

THE LOS ANGELES ADJUSTMENT PLAN IN RURAL AND 
VILLAGE SCHOOLS 

From April to June, 1920, the Los Angeles Adjust- 
ment Plan was given a trial in four one-room schools 
and one three-room school in Placer County, Cali- 
fornia. The experiment was made at the suggestion of 
Dr. Margaret S. McNaught, State Commissioner of 
Elementary Schools, was financed by the California 
State Board of Education, and was carried out by Miss 
Maud Whitlock of the Los Angeles city schools. Miss 
Irene Burns, superintendent of the Placer County 
schools, and the teachers in the schools chosen, co- 
operated in the experiment. All the actual instruction 
involved in the experiment was carried out by the 
regular teachers, with no help except in the three-room 
school, where a cadet teacher from San Francisco State 
Normal School assisted for a few weeks. 

With the help of tests and the teachers' records on 
quality of school work, the pupils in each school who 
were behind in their studies were temporarily with- 
drawn from their regular class work, in some cases from 
part of it, in other cases from all of it, and were given 
the Los Angeles project materials for self -instruction 
in the various subjects in which they were most defi- 



INSTRUCTION IN ADJUSTMENT ROOMS 71 

cient. All the pupils took to these materials with great 
zest, and most of them developed an entirely new atti- 
tude toward their studies. One boy, thought by his 
teaeher to be a defective, proved to have an IQ of 107. 
This boy, who was exceedingly sensitive, shy, and lack- 
ing in self-confidence, made a gain of three terms in his 
oral reading. Standard tests given at the close of the 
experiment showed that surprisingly great progress had 
been made by nearly all the pupils. The following ex- 
cerpts from the reports made by the regular class teach- 
ers speak for themselves. 

"D. has been in the sixth grade for three years and 
has always caused his teacher a great deal of trouble. 
After the first day under the Adjustment Plan he was 
so interested that if any one tried to get him to do 
things in the old way he would pay no attention. He 
was anxious to see how many squares he could fill in 
every day in the Progress Sheets." (N. D.) 

"The enthusiasm with which the pupils approach 
each new step makes the work a pleasure to the teacher 
and causes the child to progress more rapidly. So far 
there have been no problems in discipline, as each child 
is too busy and too interested to make mischief. It is 
quite common for a child to remark upon how quickly 
the time passes, or to show regret when recess or closing 
time prevents him from completing a project or taking 
up a new one. Interest in the work increased, rather 
than diminished, as the experiment proceeded. The 
pupils seemed to derive more pleasure in proportion to 
the amount of work they accomplished. They them- 
selves made the request that they be allowed to work 
the last morning of school instead of having stories, so 



72 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

that they might have more to show on their Record 
Sheets. Nearly all were anxious to know if the work 
was to be continued next year, and if they might be 
allowed to take it." (M. H. T.) 

"Some advantages of the Adjustment Plan are: (1) 
Each pupil progresses at his own rate, according to his 
ability; (2) the definiteness of the outlines enables a 
pupil to proceed without losing time waiting for assign- 
ments; (3) pupils are taught to understand the use of 
graphs in keeping records of work accomplished; (4) 
the pupils learn to rely upon themselves instead of upon 
the teacher or classmates." (A. L.) 

"I wish we might have had the work earlier in the 
year, for it is an excellent plan for rural schools. It 
gives such a thorough drill in the essentials and elim- 
inates so much of the less necessary work that we are 
apt to spend so much time on. It dispenses with so 
many hasty recitations and helps the child to do inde- 
pendent work. The idea of being able to advance inde- 
pendently seemed to appeal to these children, and they 
all asked if we were to have the work next year." 
(M. B. H.) 

All the teachers in their official report on the success 
of the experiment rendered judgments fully as favor- 
able as those quoted above, and the value of the Ad- 
justment Plan in small rural schools seems to have been 
demonstrated. This is hardly surprising, since it is pre- 
cisely the one-room school enrolling all the grades that 
has the greatest need for methods of individual instruc- 
tion. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

The Conservation of Talent 

Raymond Hugh Franzen, Director of Educational 
Research, Des Moines, Iowa 

Editor's Introduction 

Dr. Franzen's chapter will serve to remind the reader of the 
highly important fact that intelligence tests and educational tests 
should go hand in hand. Although this fact is taken for granted by 
educational psychologists, it is likely to be overlooked by the rank 
and file of educational practitioners. Dr. Franzen has made an 
important contribution in suggesting a practicable method of com- 
bining the results of mental and educational tests by the use of the 
Accomplishment Ratio, previously called the Accomplishment 
Quotient. We predict that the Accomplishment Ratio will become 
widely known and extensively used. (L. M. T.) 

MENTAL INVESTMENT AND SOCIAL DIVIDENDS 

Educational reorganization is everywhere aiming at 
such a classification of pupils as will reduce the individ- 
ual differences of product to the inherited bases of these 
differences. We have been prodigal of the genius of our 
race. Our educational institutions and our methods of 
selection for important positions in the business and 
professional life of the country have proceeded in a hap- 
hazard way. Though the conditions making for suc- 
cess have been rigorous enough to insure that in the 
main our leaders were the upper half of humanity in in- 
telligence, — or the top quarter, perhaps, — the methods 
were so crude that the top quarter of humanity has 
not yielded what it could. For every genius who has 
achieved in proportion to his capacity, probably two or 
more have been wasted. Education is partly responsi- 

73 



74 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

ble, for methods of education should include the selec- 
tion and special treatment of supernormal children. 
Deviates in intelligence in either direction from the 
mean are equally out of place in a normal classroom; 
yet, although much work has been done in the segrega- 
tion and special treatment of subnormal children, little 
if any consideration has been given the problem of the 
supernormal. Nature has made lavish investments in 
some nervous systems, investments which have never 
yielded proportional social dividends. 

A plea for the recognition of the varying rates at 
which children progress through their school life should 
include a practical plan by which children may be 
classified, a consideration of the inherited and environ- 
mental factors which are the causative correlates, and 
proof that, when exactly classified, children do better 
work than when more roughly graded. It is easy to 
reason that brilliant children, when in an ordinary class, 
so easily achieve satisfactory records that indolence and 
bad conduct become resultant habits; it is easy to argue 
that children taught in a class in which all are of the 
same mental ability stimulate each other to more give- 
and-take, excite less envy and feeling of inferiority, 
and become more confident, ambitious, and intellec- 
tually courageous ; but it is more necessary to show that 
children, when so classified, learn to read, write, and 
spell better, that they achieve more nearly what they 
are fitted by nature to do. The extent to which children 
achieve what they are mentally capable of can be 
measured, and we can give a verdict as to how far the 
schema of classification on the basis of such measure- 
ment as we now have is practicable. 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 75 

SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS INVOLVED 

It is when viewing the matter from a scientific angle in 
an attempt to gain exact evidence, that vexatious ques- 
tions interrupt an otherwise smooth propaganda. We 
must know : 

(1) What tests to use to classify; 

(2) How to use them; 

(3) Whether abilities in reading, spelling, and arith- 

metic or their predisposition exist as special 
abilities, or whether children differ in these 
simply because of their innate differences of 
intelligence. 1 

(4) Whether individual differences in ambition, 

interest, and industry, in so far as they influ- 
ence accomplishment, are due to special tend- 
encies or whether they are learned manifes- 
tations of a more general heritage. 

(5) How these proclivities, specific or general, are 

related to intelligence. 

Points 1 and 2 are methods of procedure that must 
be evolved from our existent knowledge of measure- 
ments and statistics. Points 3, 4, and 5 are problems 
which must be solved from the evidence resulting from 
an experiment in classification using these methods. 
Points 4 and 5 introduce the vexed question of whether 

1 Whenever the word "intelligence" is used in this chapter, it will mean 
that quality of the nervous system which distinguishes bright from stupid. 
It is a characteristic of the nervous system irrespective of growth. Thus we 
may think of the timbre of the nervous system, its chemistry, as intelligence, 
and the amount of it as its growth. A child at ten has the same intelligence as 
he had at three, though he has attained greater mental growth by that time. 



76 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

there is a "general factor" making for disparity in 
school product or some general cause other than intelli- 
gence. Should reading ability prove to be the result of 
certain inherited abilities, or predisposition to abilities, 
we could not use a measure of mental ability alone as 
the guide to what a child could attain in reading. If 
intelligence, however, were the only inherited prognos- 
tic factor of school achievement, we could mark the 
education which had functioned in the child's life by 
the percentage which the actual accomplishment of the 
child was of the maximum accomplishment of which he 
was capable at that stage of his mental development. 
So too, if interest and ambition are not mainly the result 
of rewards and punishments of early life but are them- 
selves significantly rooted in the nature of the child, 
we could not condemn or commend curricula and 
methods upon a basis of the ratio of resultant accom- 
plishment to mental ability but must include a measure 
of this potentiality. The practical queries whether or 
not a child can do reading as well as he does arithmetic, 
whether his ambition and his honesty have their origin 
in the same strength or weakness, can only be answered 
when these problems are fully solved. The immediate 
consequence of knowing that a child can usually be 
taught to read if he does other tasks well is of obvious 
import. It would be of great service, too, to know 
whether lack of application can be corrected so as to 
bring concentration to the level of the other traits. If a 
child is normal in other ways and not in his tendency to 
respond to the approval of others by satisfaction, can 
this drive be increased or reduced to the average or are 
individual differences in specific original tendencies 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 77 

basic to development of character? And if they are, 
how much influence do these differences exert upon 
school accomplishment? In order to classify children 
and comprehendingly watch and control their progress, 
we must know the relation of achievement to the in- 
herited bases upon which it depends. We must be able 
to state a child's progress in any one school subject in 
terms of the potential capacity of the child to progress. 
We must know the inherited determinants of disparity 
in school product. 

CURRENT EXPERIMENTS IN RE-CLASSIFICATION 

In the last year re-classification in terms of scaled 
tests, both of mental ability and of subject matter, has 
become an important issue in education. The school 
man of America has accepted the verdict of experimen- 
tal evidence. His school has been convicted of hetero- 
geneity, and he has accommodated his thoughts on the 
subject of school organization to the idea of more rigid 
demarcation of groups of any one mental ability and 
even of any one stage of development in reading or 
arithmetic. Too often, however, the problem has been 
considered too simply as classification by mental abil- 
ity, by subject matter, or by a composite of the two. 
Too often, also, mental ability alone or measurement of 
one product has been considered an index of mental ele- 
ments not included in the diagnosis. Our results all 
indicate that, for the present, re-grouping of children 
must be done both ways; that each child has an ideal 
grade in each subject, by virtue of the ability he has 
reached in that subject as well as an ideal section of that 
grade by virtue of intelligence; that grouping of chil- 



78 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

dren must be done on two axes. Our results show fur- 
ther that if this is done all unevenness will disappear 
and each child's grade will become the same in each 
subject; that all disparity in product will reduce to indi- 
vidual differences in mental ability. But it is only by 
re-grading for spelling and for arithmetic that the high 
correlation between different kinds of product is dis- 
covered, since it is only in this way that remediable 
weaknesses are removed. 

TESTS SHOULD THROW LIGHT ON THE INDIVIDUAL 
CHILD 

Measurement should form the basis for teachers' 
opinion; it should neither supplant nor supplement it. 
A surveyor does not use one instrument to judge dis- 
tance and then accept its result irrespective of all other 
data, such as known facts about the values investigated. 
He makes another measurement when his results conflict 
with other data. Neither does he use his instruments 
and then compare their result with his opinion formed 
independently, with the implied necessity of agreement. 
He bases his opinion on the results, including such other 
data as he has, and gets new facts until one interpreta- 
tion explains all findings. We should do the same, not 
set up a test or a series of tests as the only criterion, nor 
measure and judge independently and then check one 
series against the other. We should use the test results 
as the very best data we have upon which to form our 
opinions, and continue measurement until we know. 
We rarely obtain a teacher's judgment before she has 
seen the tests, just because we hope that her judgment 
will be based on the results of the test. 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 79 

To do this the results must be stated in terms of the 
individual child, since the average teacher at her 
present stage of training readily understands that two 
individuals in her class are far apart in accomplishment 
of any one kind, but may not understand in any way 
directly applicable to her cares and tribulations that the 
variability of measurements of an ability in her class is 
great in comparison with that of other classes, or even 
that the overlapping of ability between classes is very 
great. Further, in order to gain her support, after we 
have shown the wide disparity in a class, we must pro- 
ceed directly in terms of this demonstration to the re- 
classification. 

A METHOD OF SURVEY OF READING, LANGUAGE, AND 
ARITHMETIC 

Instructions (of which the following are a slight 
modification) were outlined at Garden City, New 
York, in order to gain these advantages. 1 

I. Administer and score the following tests according to standard 
instructions. Give all tests to all grades above 3: 
Woody-McCall Mixed Fundamentals Form I-T. C. Bureau of 
Publications, Columbia University, New York. 
Alpha 2 Reading. Bureau of Publications, Columbia University, 
New York. 

Visual Vocabulary (Thorndike Reading Scale), A-2, Series x. 
Bureau of Publications, Columbia University, New York. 
Kelley-Trabue Completion Alpha. Bureau of Publications, Colum- 
bia University, New York. 
Stanford-Binet (given by the author). 

II. Translate the scores into year-month indices of maturity by 
means of the following table. Assume rectilinear develop- 
ment; that is, that the amount of score which equals a devel- 

1 A fuller description of this experiment will appear as "The Accomplish- 
ment Ratio," in Teachers College Contributions to Education. 



80 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

opment of one month is the same as the amount of score 
which equals the development of any other month. Then 
interpolation and extension are allowable. Use the table in 
this way: Find in the table the score made by a child (for 
instance in the Woody-McCall) ; find the age to which it 
corresponds, then call this age the Arithmetic Age of the 
child. For instance, if the score in Woody-McCall is 20, 
his Arithmetic Age is about halfway between 10 and 11, or 
10 years, 6 months. 1 



AGE 


WOODY- 
MCCALL 


ALPHA 2 


VISUAL 
VOCAB. 


KELLEY- 
TRABUE 


8-0 


12.00 


4.50 


3.60 


4.30 


9-0 


15.16% 


4.98 


4.32 


5.00 


10-0 


18.33^ 


5.46 


5.04 


5.65 


11-0 


21.50 


5.94 


5.76 


6.35 


12-0 


24.66% 


6.42 


6.48 


7.05 


13-0 


27.83^ 


6.90 


7.20 


7.70 



III. Arrange these Arithmetic Ages of all the children of your school 
in order from high to low, with the names opposite the 
scores on the extreme left-hand column of the paper. At the 
right have parallel columns of the grades. Check the grade 
of each child in these columns. You will then have a sheet 
like this: 



NAME 


ARITH. AGE 


GRADE 






4 


5 


6 


7 


8 




B 


A 


B 


A 


B 


A 


B 


A 


B 


A 


Gertrude Smith 


180 


















ft 




Saul Sampson 


176 










ft 












Ed Jones 


176 


















ft 




George Calut 


172 




















ft 


Ida Henry 


172 




















ft 


Raymond Teller 


172 




















ft 


Ed Hoard 


172 























1 These norms were empirically derived. 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 81 

Do the same with each of the tests. It is clear that if your school 
were perfectly classified, all the 8th-grade children would come 
first on each relation sheet and then the 7th-grade children, 
etc. You have now a picture of the overlapping of your grades. 
Divide your total number of children by the number of teachers 
available and then make a class division by the number of 
pupils; that is, call the upper one-fifth of the total number of 
pupils Grade 8 in this subject, the next one-fifth, Grade 7, etc. 
If all grades of arithmetic are taught at the same time and 
all grades of reading at the same time, you can now send each 
pupil to the grade in which he belongs in each subject. 

IV. Call each derived age a "Subject Age" (SA). Divide each 
Subject Age by the Chronological Age of the child. This will 
yield what may be called a Subject Quotient (SQ), previ- 
ously called an Educational Quotient (EQ). 1 Dividing the 
Reading Age by the Chronological Age you arrive at a 
Reading Quotient. This RQ is the rate at which the child 
has progressed in reading. We have the same kind of quo- 
tient for intelligence (Stanford-Binet IQ). This IQ is the 
potential rate of progress of the child. 

V. The ratio of any Subject Age to Mental Age 2 may be called 
a Subject Ratio (SR), previously called an Accomplishment 
Quotient (Ace. Q.). 1 

This Subject Ratio gives the proportion that the child has 
done in that subject of what he actually could have done, 
and is a mark of the efficiency of the education of the child 
in that subject to date. The goal is to bring these Subject 
Ratios as high as possible. When they are above .90, the 
child may be considered as receiving satisfactory treatment, 
providing norms for Subject Ages are reasonably accurate. 
(This figure, .90, applies to a Subject Ratio obtained by 
using a Stanford-Binet Mental Age.) An Arithmetic Ratio 
based on one arithmetic test and one intelligence test only 
is not as good as one based on three arithmetic tests and three 
intelligence tests. If Subject Ratios go far over 1.00, the 

1 See Raymond Franzen, "The Accomplishment Quotient," Teachers 
College Record, November, 1920. 

2 Or the ratio of the Subject Quotient to the Intelligence Quotient, which 
is the same as the ratio of the Subject Age to the Mental Age. 



82 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

chances are that the Mental Age diagnosis is too low. The 
average of the Subject Ratios of a child may be called his 
Accomplishment Ratio. 

In all discussions and tables that follow: 

AQ means Woody-McCall Arithmetic Age divided by Chrono- 
logical Age, and AR means this AA divided by Mental Age. 

VQ means Thorndike Vocabulary Age divided by the Chrono- 
logical Age, and VR means this VA divided by Mental Age. 

RQ means Alpha 2 Reading Age divided by Chronological Age, 
and RR means this RA divided by Mental Age. 

CQ means Kelley-Trabue Completion Age divided by Chrono- 
logical Age, and CR means this CA divided by Mental Age. 

SQ means any Subject Quotient — that is, any Subject Age divided 
by Chronological Age, — and SR means any Subject Ratio — 
that is, any SA divided by Mental Age. 

EQ, the Educational Quotient, means the average of all Subject 
Quotients, and AccR, the Accomplishment Ratio, means the 
average of all Subject Ratios. 

All r's are product moment correlation coefficients uncorrected. 
As the reliabilities arc almost what the other coefficients are in 
June, 1920, it is apparent that the corrected coefficients would 
all be very near unity at that time. 

ACCOMPLISHMENT 

Tables 1 to 4 show what happened at Garden City as 
a result of this technique between November, 1918, and 
June, 1920. In tables presenting more of this in greater 
detail, for instance the correlations between IQ and 
SQ's with more cases and by grade, the same results are 
apparent. It will be seen by reference to Table 2 that 
the correlations between IQ and the Subject Quo- 
tients are appreciably higher for November, 1919, and 
June, 1920, than for the previous dates. Note, also, a 
remarkable increase in the correlation of IQ with AQ 
from November, 1919, to June, 1920. Re-classification 
is in my opinion responsible for about 90 per cent of 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 83 

this increase in association between IQ and SQ's. The 
reliability coefficient of each set of quotients is over 
.85. Table 4 shows further that not only was the 
correlation increased, but the absolute magnitudes 
of the SQ's approached the IQ's also. The quantity 
Miq — Msq which is the difference of averages, is 

mathematically the same as 2(IQ ~ SQ) , 

the average of the differences. This reduces toward 
zero. The same evidence as is presented there for 
arithmetic is apparent in the other subjects also. 1 

THE NEGLECT OF GENIUS 

Table 5 gives the intercorrelations of Subject Ra- 
tios. Mental ability does not constitute an element in 
the child's score because the Ratio expresses what pro- 
portion that, which a child has done, is of what he 
himself is able to do. A very brilliant child and a very 
stupid child both have the same chance to make a high 
or a low Subject Ratio, dependent upon the zeal with 
which they prosecute their school duties. The correla- 
tion of Subject Ratios therefore is an index of how far 
ability in one subject is associated with ability in 
another subject when intelligence is rendered constant. 2 
The tendency to association is about .5 (see Table 5). 
At first sight this would seem to indicate the operation 
of some general inherited factor other than intelligence, 
some general proclivity which would influence children 
to invest as great a proportion of their mental ability in 

'See "The Accomplishment Ratio," Teachers College Contributions 
to Education, in preparation. 

2 A use of the method of partial correlation with these data leads to the 
same conclusions indicated here. 



84 



TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 



Table 1 . The Group Which Took All Tests at All Periods Arranged 
in Order of Magnitude of Intelligence Quotients (June, 1920) 



INTELLI- 


ARITHMETIC 


VOCABULARY 


READING 


COMPLETION 


GENCE 
QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


146 


111 


154 


164 


150 


142 


129 


135 


137 


136 


141 


109 


118 


107 


121 


139 


124 


141 


124 


134 


138 


101 


112 


105 


106 


138 


121 


130 


110 


109 


130 


107 


139 


135 


136 


122 


127 


130 


124 


121 


122 


113 


121 


117 


124 


122 


112 


102 


114 


129 


121 


128 


125 


128 


128 


120 


100 


116 


102 


119 


118 


117 


123 


114 


125 


117 


131 


111 


118 


124 


117 


106 


122 


112 


111 


114 


105 


126 


110 


114 


109 


83 


113 


117 


103 


107 


103 


112 


95 


103 


107 


94 


126 


94 


123 


104 


99 


117 


96 


104 


104 


103 


110 


94 


116 


103 


108 


113 


112 


106 


101 


100 


114 


109 


106 


100 


90 


103 


92 


92 


100 


109 


118 


108 


113 


99 


114 


104 


106 


110 


99 


114 


119 


117 


115 


98 


102 


101 


108 


104 


98 


99 


106 


107 


106 


97 


95 


109 


107 


105 


97 


108 


101 


102 


105 


97 


95 


104 


89 


110 


96 


90 


104 


91 


91 


95 


84 


99 


93 


100 


95 


90 


107 


99 


105 


95 


85 


117 


114 


103 


94 


106 


57 


89 


108 


94 


103 


103 


106 


104 


92 


96 


86 


94 


85 


87 


83 


88 


92 


87 


87 


95 


96 


94 


102 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 

Table 1 (Continued) 



85 



INTELLI- 


ARITHMETIC 


VOCABULARY 


READING 


COMPLETION 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


QUOTIENTS 


84 


85 


87 


93 


87 


83 


106 


91 


87 


104 


80 


77 


91 


80 


84 


80 


84 


75 


79 


84 


80 


89 


107 


88 


86 


78 


87 


90 


93 


85 


60 


69 


56 


71 


77 



one subject as another. Thus when a child does good 
work in reading he will tend to do good work in arith- 
metic, "good" meaning what his mental ability war- 
rants. That might easily lead us to believe that chil- 
dren were endowed by original nature with different 
degrees of zeal, application, perseverance, or some such 
general factor other than intelligence. 

However, the Accomplishment Ratio, an average of 
Subject Ratios, correlated with Intelligence Quotients 
-.61 in November, 1918, and -.49 in June, 1920. In 
other words the more stupid a child is the more he tends 
to get out of education in proportion to his native ability. 
It is hard to conceive that such a relationship exists by 
original nature; it is easy for us to explain the negative 
correlation between zeal and intelligence in terms of 
training received in our schools as they are now organ- 
ized. This accounts fully for the intercorrelation of 
Subject Ratios with no necessity to appeal to a concept 
of a general inherited factor other than intelligence. A 
child who is stupid has Subject Ratios all of which are 
higher than those of a child who is bright. Hence a cor- 
relation exists between Subject Ratios. 



86 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

Table 2. Intercorrelation of All Quotients for All Periods of the 
48 Children Who Took All Tests at All Periods 

November, 19 IS 
(n = 48) 





IQ 


VQ 


RQ 


CQ 


S. D. 


M 


IQ 










19.12 
±1.32 


105.15 
±1.86 


VQ 


.72 
±.05 








20.54 
±1.41 


102.52 

±2.00 


RQ 


.64 


.64 






19.09 


95.90 




±.06 


±.06 






±1.31 


±1.86 


CQ 


.03 


.71 


.77 




19.34 


99.44 




±.06 


±.05 


±.04 




±1.33 


±1.88 



June, 1919 





IQ 


VQ 


RQ 


CQ 


S. D. 


M. 


IQ 










19.12 
±1.32 


105.15 
±1.86 


VQ 


.73 
±.05 








20.80 
±1.43 


113.54 
±2.02 


RQ 


.65 


.58 






14.73 


101.31 




±.06 


±.06 






±1.01 


±1.43 


CQ 


.62 


.68 


.77 




19.76 


101.04 




±.06 


±.05 


±.04 




±1.36 


±1.92 



November, 1919 





IQ 


AQ 


VQ 


RQ 


S. D. 


M. 


IQ 










19.12 
±1.32 


105.15 
±1.86 


AQ 


.46 

±.08 








14.08 
±0.97 


102.90 
±1.37 


VQ 


.86 


.23 






17.07 


109.17 




±.03 


±.09 






±1.18 


±1.66 


RQ 


.65 


.56 


.71 




13.91 


101.42 




±.06 


±.07 


±.05 




±0.96 


±1.35 


CQ 


.79 


.47 


.83 


.82 


17.53 


105.21 




±.04 


±.08 


±.03 


±.03 


±1.21 


±1.71 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 

Table 2 (Continued) 
June, 1920 



87 





1Q 


AQ 


VQ 


RQ 


S. D. 


M. 


IQ 








19.12 


105.15 












±1.32 


±1.86 


AQ 


.73 
±.05 








14.10 
±0.97 


101.79 
±1.37 


VQ 


.81 


.60 






18.89 


108.94 




±.03 


±.06 






±1.30 


±1.84 


RQ 


.79 


.68 


.87 




16.43 


104.94 




±.04 


±.05 


±.02 




±1.13 


±1.60 


CQ 


.84 


.77 


.78 


.84 


15.87 


108.08 




±.03 


±.04 


±.04 


±.03 


±1.09 


±1.54 



Table 3. Intercorrelation of All Quotients in June, 1920. All 
Children Exclusive of Grade 3 Are Here Represented 





iQ 


ARITHMETIC 


VOCABULARY 


READING 




QUOTIENT 


QUOTIENT 


QUOTIENT 


Arithmetic Q 


.733 








Vocabulary Q . . . 


.837 


.628 






Reading Q 


.758 


.694 


.734 




Completion Q . . . . 


.821 


.770 


.825 


.801 



The P. E.'s are all less than .05 



n = 81 



Then the ratio of accomplishment to mental ability 
is in definite relation to brightness, a negative relation. 
It is this same tendency to adapt our educational pro- 
cedure to a low level which has prevented a perfect as- 
sociation between mental ability and accomplishment 
in the various subjects. We are allowing the subnormal 
to be at the frontier of his abilities and are sacrificing 
the supernormal's chances in order to do it; and the 
normal children, too, on a basis of this correlation 
would seem to be getting less than they could if classi- 
fication were added to our educational procedures. 

This serious maladjustment of conditions of educa- 



88 



TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 



Table 4. Summary of Progress in Arithmetic by Increase in r 1Q _ AQi 
Decrease in M IQ - M A0 and Decrease in Difference of Standard 
Deviations (November, 1919, to June, 1920) 



GRADE 


r IQ - 


AQ 


AVERAGE INTELLI- 
GENCE QUOTIENT 
MINUS AVERAGE 
ARITHMETIC 
QUOTIENT 


DIFFERENCE OF 
STANDARD DEVIA- 
TIONS (of IQ 
AND ARITH. q) 




Nov. 


June 


Nov. 


June 


Nov. 


June 


3 


.413 


.709 


19.25 


8.16 


6.27 


6.63 




±.16 


±.08 


±2.87 


±2.05 


±2.04 


±1.45 


4 


.426 


.725 


7.41 


0.46 


2.39 


0.47 




±.10 


±.06 


±1.84 


±1.50 


±1.29 


±1.02 


5 


.698 


.713 


16.14 


-0.54 


7.14 


2.06 




±.07 


±.07 


±1.93 


±1.84 


±1.37 


±1.30 


6 


.533 


.805 


11.00 


3.00 


0.19 


1.63 




±.13 


±.06 


±2.01 


±1.19 


±1.42 


±0.85 


7 


.740 


.795 


7.27 


0.62 


14.03 


8.15 




±.09 


±.07 


±3.58 


±2.33 


±2.53 


±1.63 


8 


.663 


.796 


11.92 


14.93* 


5.26 


8.53 




±.11 


±.07 


±2.25 


±2.69 


±1.59 


±1.54 


Total 


.576 


.686 


14.67 


3.72 


3.51 


1.16 




±.05 


±.03 


±0.94 


±0.81 


±0.67 


±0.57 



tion, this waste of nervous capacity, is unfortunate in 
an age when we are in great need of leaders, inventors, 
research scientists, and artists. We are neglecting the 
upper octile more seriously than any other portion of 
the scale of brightness, although it is rather through 
these than through a higher average intelligence that 
civilization is advanced. The degree of adaptation of 
instruction to the individual is in inverse ratio to the 
degree of brightness of the individual. This is probably 
true of nearly all school systems. Our knowledge of 

* This increase is undoubtedly due to the fact that most of the eighth grad- 
ers reached the limit of the test before June, 1920. Their Arith. Q's were in 
reality much higher than the test could register and therefore the quantities 
IQ— AQ were in reality smaller than was registered. 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 89 

Table 5. Intercorrelations of Subject Ratios 



RATIOS 


NOV., 

'18 


JUNE, 

'19 


NOV., 

'19 


JUNE, 

'20 


Arithmetic with Vocabulary .... 






.60 
±.06 


.30 
±.08 


Arithmetic with Reading 






.70 
±.04 


.64 
±.05 


Arithmetic with Completion 






.48 
±.07 


.61 
±.05 


Vocabulary with Reading 


.34 


.32 


.57 


.47 




±.08 


±.09 


±.06 


±.07 


Vocabulary with Completion . . . 


.45 


.36 


.53 


.54 




±.07 


±.08 


±.06 


±.06 


Reading with Completion 


.61 


.65 


.67 


.67 




±.06 


±.06 


±.05 


±.05 



existent school arrangements bears out the testimony 
gained at Garden City. 1 Segregation of feeble-minded, 
special classes for the mentally deficient, special meth- 
ods of teaching "deviates" taught at normal schools, 
books on the psychology of the subnormal, all these are 
familiar; but there are few provisions for similar empha- 
sis upon the needs of those who deviate in the other 
direction from the mean. We are just beginning to pay 
attention to this group. 2 They are just as much out of 
place in an ordinary classroom. There is one marked 
difference in results. Whereas we may to some extent 
combat criminal tendencies by special treatment of the 

1 Using the better technique of S. D. locations in an age group instead of 
Subject and Mental Ages, Mr. A. J. Hamilton of Berkeley, California, has 
negative correlations this same size between Subject Ratios and his bright- 
ness measures. R. Pintner has the same results, in this consideration, from 
an entirely different approach: "Results of the Combined Mental-Educational 
Survey Tests," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1921, pages 
82-91. 

2 Lewis M. Terman, The Intelligence of School Children, Houghton Mifflin 
Company; Guy M. Whipple, Classes for Gifted Children, Warwick and York. 



90 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

subnormal, we shall increase our leaders by special 
treatment of the supernormal. The one is preventive, 
the other is provocative. The first reason seems the 
more potent. Preventive measures always seem more 
immediate to administrators even though the debit 
value of the prevented catastrophe is much smaller 
than the credit value of an innovation which does not 
so much to correct any immediate trouble as to inaug- 
urate new and fertile prospects. 

WHOLESALE RE-CLASSIFICATION NECESSARY 

In all other details the educational misfortunes of a 
curriculum and method not fitted to capacity are equal 
for both series of maladjustments. Whereas the sub- 
normal child does not know what is going on and 
becomes restless, begins to cheat, troubles the teachers, 
and in some cases becomes openly rebellious, the super- 
normal child is bored and becomes restless and trouble- 
some also, often developing a hatred and contempt of 
everything having to do with study. The one becomes 
sullen, the other conceited; the one tends to become an 
anarchist, the other "peculiar"; the one tempts crim- 
inal adventure, the other drifts into the life of a dilet- 
tante; they both tend to lose ambition, concentration, 
and initiative, all because the methods of study and 
the curricula are not adapted to individual differences. 

The children of neither group are certain of develop- 
ing the moral stamina necessary for good citizenship, 
nor do they form good habits of study or accumulate 
such information as they might. Being aware of this 
discrepancy between the gift and the recipient, we have 
made our lessons easier and have segregated the lower 



THE CONSERVATION OF TALENT 91 

percentile. There is much more to be done. We must 
adapt education to at least five varying classes in order 
to reduce the spread within each to a commodious span. 
But the genius is the most important and consequently 
has the greatest claim to our immediate attention. 

Experiment and the current of educational opinion 
point a prophetic finger toward classification. The 
experiment at Garden City proves that the association 
between IQ and Subject Quotients can be brought to 
almost unity, and therefore that any amount of classifi- 
cation in terms of accomplishment in subject matter 
is not only justifiable but imperative in order to reduce 
all disparity in any one age group to these unremovable 
individual differences which may be expressed as IQ. 1 
A school which has been perfectly classified for two or 
three years will have groups all of the same age and of 
the same potential rate of progress, whose difficulties in 
arithmetic, spelling, and reading are of the same general 
level. This will afford the opportunity for enrichment 
of the curriculum to the degree essential and will make 
unnecessary any rapid promotion. Each class can stay 
in each grade one year. While one class will learn much 
there, another will learn little, because nature has been 
more generous in the neural endowment of the one 
than of the other. 

1 Or, one is equally justified in saying, any amount of classification on the 
basis of intelligence is justifiable. The reader untrained in statistics may not 
easily grasp the import of Dr. Franzen's results. The main conclusion, how- 
ever, should be clear; namely, that when children are properly adjusted and 
properly taught, their school accomplishment corresponds very closely to 
their intelligence. In other words, general intelligence is the thing that deter- 
mines what progress a child in a particular school subject should make. Hence 
the importance of intelligence tests. The Editor. 



CHAPTER FIVE 

The Use of Intelligence Tests in the Schools 
of a Small City 

C. R. Tapper, Superintendent of Schools, Miami, Arizona 

Editor's Introduction 

The author of this chapter would be the last to offer his experi- 
ment as in any sense a specific guide to others situated like himself. 
It does contain, the editor believes, valuable suggestions of what may 
be done immediately by the superintendent of any small city, in the 
improvement of school classification. Certainly it is unnecessary to 
wait until ideal methods of adjustment have been worked out. The 
field is one in which widespread experimentation is desirable along 
various possible lines. Indeed, only as the result of such experimen- 
tation can the best methods of reorganization be evolved. The fu- 
ture trends of our educational development will be determined in no 
small degree by superintendents like Mr. Tupper who have the 
initiative and courage to break away from the beaten path and to 
seek better ways of doing things. (L. M. T.) 

Miami is a mining town of 10,000 population situated in 
the heart of the copper district of Arizona. The school 
system enrolls some 1500 pupils, 50 per cent of whom are 
of Mexican nationality. An excessive retardation rate 
led to a systematic investigation to determine methods 
of cutting down this important human and financial 
waste. The usual methods were first employed. Classes 
were reduced to 30 or 35 pupils, the standards for 
teachers were raised so as to exclude all having less than 
two years' professional training, salaries were increased 
to attract the best teachers, a bonus was offered to 
summer-school attendants to encourage professional 
study, the largest over-age pupils were put in special 
classes, the best of primary and special supervisors 

92 



TESTS IN SCHOOLS OF A SMALL CITY 93 

were secured, a full-time attendance officer was em- 
ployed, and physical examinations were given to all 
children and many defects were remedied through 
treatment. 

A specialist in pedagogical and intelligence tests was 
then sought, and Miss Mildred Thomson, of Stanford 
University, was secured to inaugurate our program of 
diagnostic testing. Group intelligence tests were given 
to all children from the second to the eighth grades; 
individual Binet tests were applied to the first grades 
and to a large number of selected individuals. The 
results of the tests were worked up in graphic form on 
large charts in colored inks, so as to show mental and 
chronological ages together with IQ's. These charts 
then became the object of study in an effort to find 
the answer to "What next?" From this study the 
following facts became evident: 

1. There was practically no real retardation. The 
children who were chronologically retarded were in 
reality accelerated beyond their mental age. In 
general, those retarded the most, chronologically, were 
accelerated to the highest degree beyond their mental 
ability. 

2. The extreme variations in mental age in the same 
class-group were strikingly evident, one sixth-grade 
group showing mental ages ranging from 8 years to 15. 

3. This same wide range of mental ability was 
evident in classes in the same grade, suggesting at once 
the possibility of re-grouping children without making 
it necessary to change their grade classification in the 
least. 

4. Some few individuals stood out above their class 



94 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

so strikingly as to indicate the advisability of imme- 
diate investigations looking toward the skipping of a 
grade. 

5. Many of the over-age pupils showed a stage of 
mental development which at once indicated the use- 
lessness of trying to force them through the regular 
course of study. 

6. The class-groups in one school with a 90 per cent 
Mexican enrollment lagged consistently behind corre- 
sponding classes in the other schools in their stage of 
mental development. 

7. Statistical investigation in elimination of pupils, 
carried on simultaneously with the mental survey, indi- 
cated the heavy mortality among these pupils, espe- 
cially in the fifth and sixth grades. Still further study 
disclosed the fact that practically all these pupils 
dropped out of school one or two years before reaching 
high school. 

Several definite conclusions were at once deducible 
from these facts. It was evident that the wide mental 
age range in many of the classes made successful class 
work impossible and contributed directly to failures 
and retardation. The range of individual differences in 
some classes made them in reality "ungraded groups" 
rather than groups with a homogeneous mental develop- 
ment capable of profiting from class methods of in- 
struction. The frequent inclusion in class-groups of 
children with a mental development two or three 
years below the normal standard for the grade indi- 
cated that the work of the regular course of study was 
unsuited and unprofitable to them, and bore witness to 
the fact that many children had been promoted from 



TESTS IN SCHOOLS OF A SMALL CITY 95 

grade to grade largely on the basis of chronological 
age alone. The consistent lagging of the Mexican groups 
behind other class-groups indicated the necessity of a 
specialized curriculum for these children, especially 
since it was evident that scarcely any of them ever 
reached the high school. 

These facts having been established through the 
mentality survey of the schools, definite steps were 
taken to modify the school organization along the lines 
indicated by the results. Care was taken to proceed 
slowly in order not to arouse the antagonism of teachers 
or school patrons through a radical introduction of new- 
fangled methods. The steps taken were as follows: 

1. Two heterogeneous first-grade classes were re- 
grouped on the basis of Binet tests, thereby reducing 
the mental age-range from 4-10 (i.e., 4 years, 10 months) 
and 4-4 to 2-1 and 2-10, respectively. All children in 
one group were above 6 years mentally, all children in 
the other group were just 6 years mentally or below, 
although in every case they were 6 or more years of age 
chronologically. The difference in school capacity be- 
tween these two groups has been marked. The better 
group is making better than standard progress, and 11 
of the pupils in it are now receiving special coaching for 
a "skip." 

2. Two 5-B classes were re-grouped partly on the 
basis of the results of the National Intelligence Tests 
and partly by teacher conferences and individual 
test results. Both groups contained 8-year mentality 
prior to the change, with median mentality of 9-0 
and 9-1 and with mental age-ranges of 4-5 and 3-10, 
respectively. Re-grouping reduced the age-ranges 



96 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

to 3-5 and 0-9, while the mental medians shifted to 
9-10 and 8-3. One of the new groups was made up of 
mental ages ranging from 8 years to 8 years and 9 
months. This latter group is obviously not a fifth- 
grade group. It still retains that name, however, in 
order not to discourage the pupils through demotion. 
The work of the class is being simplified to suit the 
group capacity. For these particular pupils the 
class designation carries little significance, as they are 
hopelessly retarded chronologically and will drop out of 
school as soon as the legal age limit is reached. The IQ 
of this group ranges between 60 and 80 on the basis 
of the group tests, thereby indicating the improbability 
of any of them ever succeeding in high school should 
they attempt to enter. 

3. A high fifth and a low sixth class were re-grouped 
at the close of the semester into two sixth-grade classes. 
In this case the high fifth class evidenced a higher 
mental development than the low sixth. The best 
pupils from each group were placed together, and the 
slower pupils also were grouped. Both classes then 
went by the same name in order to avoid the discourage- 
ment caused by the demotion which really took place 
among the slower pupils. Prior to regrouping, the men- 
tal age-ranges were 5-3 and 3-11, with median men- 
talities of 10-2 for the high fifth and 9-7 for the low 
sixth. Subsequent to re-grouping, the mental age 
ranges were reduced to 1-9 and 2-6, while the median 
mentalities shifted to 1 1-2 and 9-1 . The lower group is 
now made up largely of over-age pupils close to the 
compulsory age limit who will automatically drop out 
of school within a year or two. They constitute p 



TESTS IN SCHOOLS OF A SMALL CITY 97 

fairly homogeneous group which can be given work 
suited to their ability instead of being compelled to 
drag along in a group in which they are unable to 
compete successfully. 

4. Two heterogeneous 7-B groups were similarly re- 
classified. Median mentalities prior to re-grouping were 
13-5 and 13-9, with mental age ranges of 5-7 and 5-2. 
Subsequent to re-grouping the medians shifted to 11-10 
and 15-4, while the age ranges were reduced to 2-6 
and 2-8, thus giving "classes" instead of "mixed un- 
graded" groups. 

5. Two 8-B classes were re-grouped in the same 
manner, thereby allowing the more advanced section to 
make up a half year of time. 

6. Two high sixth classes were also re-grouped, with 
the result that the better class is saving a half year 
while the slower group is finding it difficult to finish the 
required work of the grade on time. 

7. Several individuals standing out from their 
classes on the group tests were given special individual 
tests and allowed to "skip" grades. 

8. Two Smith-Hughes classes for girls and two 
Smith-Hughes classes for boys were selected and 
grouped through the use of Binet tests, in order to 
provide groups of pupils of as nearly equal development 
as possible. 

9. Results of the tests which showed the consistent 
lagging of the Mexican groups behind other groups, 
when considered in connection with elimination sta- 
tistics for these pupils, formed the basis for the action 
of the school board in deciding to equip the new Mexi- 
can building with a view to emphasizing industrial and 



98 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

home-making courses for these children. The superin- 
tendent was sent to other school systems in the state 
to observe methods and means of providing practical 
industrial and home-making training for Mexican 
classes. As a result a definite program looking to the 
inclusion of this work in the Mexican schools was 
adopted by the board and will be provided for in the 
equipment of the new $125,000 Mexican building. 

All re-groupings were initiated as a result of the 
intelligence tests, but in every case conferences were 
held with teachers before the final placing of pupils. 
In no case was a pupil demoted as a result of the tests, 
in spite of the fact that the results indicated that some 
pupils had been promoted considerably beyond their 
ability. The aim throughout was the identification of 
pupils capable of making more rapid progress, and the 
formation of groups of pupils showing approximately 
the same stage of mental development. The objective 
was continually the formation of real "classes" in 
place of the heterogeneous groups of pupils which are 
the inevitable result of haphazard grouping or grouping 
based solely on subjective teacher judgment. The new 
groups show a mental age range of less than three years 
in nearly all cases, and should be able to profit far more 
by "class methods" than the old groups with age 
ranges as high as 6 to 8 years were able to do. The 
percentage of failures in these groups should be less, 
since the range of competition has been narrowed and 
pupils are competing for success with other individuals 
possessing more nearly the same mental age level. 

The retardation statistics for the system indicated 
that the work being offered in the schools was not 



TESTS IN SCHOOLS OF A SMALL CITY 99 

adapted to many of the classes and to many of the 
individuals in those classes. The intelligence survey 
demonstrated that the heterogeneity of the class 
groups with respect to mental development would not 
permit of efficient classroom teaching unless pupils were 
re-grouped. Re-grouping on the basis of mental age is 
providing the necessary homogeneous classes, while a 
new course of study which lists minimum essentials, 
supplementary work, and suggested extensions, and 
which provides for special classes and special work in 
industrial and home-making groups, is making possible 
the adjustment of the work to the ability and needs of 
the classes which have been selected on the basis of 
mental capacity, whenever this could be done without 
demotions. 

A "selling campaign" was put on subsequent to re- 
grouping, in order to make the program "stick." Ques- 
tionnaires were sent out to all teachers, asking their 
opinion on the changes made and on the use of tests in 
general. All papers were made anonymous in order to 
insure frank opinions and open criticism. The results 
were compiled and a general teachers' meeting called to 
consider the situation. It was shown by means of 
charts based on teachers' estimates of intelligence of 
certain classes that the subjective judgment is espe- 
cially unreliable when used in connection with the esti- 
mation of the intellectual ability of children. This fact 
was still further emphasized by displaying large charts 
showing the results of well-known experiments on the 
ability of teachers in grading papers. The opinions of 
leading educators were quoted in order to acquaint 
teachers with the trend of expert opinion. An effort 



100 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

was made to impress the fact that the new method is 
not infallible, but that it is a decided improvement 
over older methods, is becoming more and more widely 
used, and that it is a part of every teacher's professional 
duty to become familiar with the nature, purpose, and 
use of tests. It was also emphasized that this method 
of grouping children aids the teacher in her work by 
providing a homogeneous group instead of an "un- 
graded group" with an excessive range of mental 
ability, and that the method affords slow children a 
much better chance to succeed by removing them from 
unfair competition with children possessing a far higher 
mental development. 

The public press was supplied with articles collected 
from various sources showing the advantages of the 
new method and the possibility of cutting down failures 
through its use, and thereby effecting a very consider- 
able saving, both financial and human. Accounts of 
the work undertaken were sent to the superintendents 
of several of the Western cities and to the educational 
authorities of various universities. A request was made 
for an expression of opinion in connection with the 
movement being introduced. The replies were published 
in the papers and formed the basis for still further 
explanations regarding the purpose and possibilities of 
the tests. The subject was also taken up before the 
town Rotary Club. All changes made were explained 
and illustrated by the use of colored charts. The 
advantages of the method over older methods were 
emphasized and expert opinion was quoted in support 
of the movement. The school board was constantly 
kept closely in touch with all plans and phases of the 



TESTS IN SCHOOLS OF A SMALL CITY 101 

work, the advantages and possibilities of the method 
being continually emphasized and backed up through 
expert opinion. 

The result has been the definite adoption of the 
method and a steady support of its application by the 
school board, the teaching staff, and a large majority 
of the community. It is confidently felt by the school 
administration that it will at last be possible to attack 
the retardation problem in the Miami schools on a 
scientific and fact basis. It is felt that the underlying 
causes have been located and that the solution of the 
problem is well under way. The program adopted calls 
for a careful selection of groups of children with "homo- 
geneous mental development" as determined by intelli- 
gence tests modified by teacher conferences; the diag- 
nosis and standardization of these groups by the use of 
pedagogical tests; and the application of a flexible and 
diversified course of study adapted to class groups. The 
formation of the course of study is well under way and 
is being rapidly carried forward by means of teacher- 
committees in collaboration with highly trained super- 
visors. Special classes have been formed and more will 
be formed, but it is felt that the aim should be "every 
class a special class," a homogeneous group of children 
personally conducted by the teacher on a tour through 
the system, accomplishing minimum essentials as de- 
fined in the course of study, "checking up" on essentials 
through standardized tests, but always allowing wide 
leeway for supplementary work as indicated by the 
personnel of the group. This aim seems to be dictated 
by the shifting nature of the school enrollment and by 
the wide diversity in ability, mental development, 



102 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

character, social position, and previous training of the 
cosmopolitan enrollment in the Miami schools. 

It is of course realized that practice will fall short 
of the aim, but it can be unquestionably shown that 
the indicated procedure is reducing and will still further 
reduce the percentage of failures and the percentage 
of retardation in the local schools. It can be conclu- 
sively shown that the indicated program is going far 
toward fitting the curriculum and the organization to 
the child in place of forcing the child to conform to the 
system or forcing him out entirely. It can be likewise 
demonstrated that the program offers opportunity to a 
large percentage of the children in the Miami schools to 
secure a fundamental and functioning training in indus- 
trial and home-making skill which is denied to them 
under the traditional system. When it is recalled that 
the children of the Mexican laborers in the mines of the 
district almost invariably drop out after the sixth year 
to take up unskilled manual labor or to set up homes 
of their own, it will be readily appreciated that the 
schools owe it to these children to provide them with 
definite training in this direction in place of condemning 
them to failure, discouragement, and early elimination 
by confining their school training to the traditional 
course of study looking toward high school entrance and 
graduation. 



CHAPTER SIX 

Significance of Mental Tests in Corrective and 
Adjustment Cases 

report of experimental work with poor spellers 
and non-readers, with applications to normal 
children 

Grace Fernald, Associate Professor of Psychology, 
University of California, Southern Branch 1 

Editor's Introduction 

Work of the kind described in this chapter will always be of great 
importance, whatever plan is followed in the classification of children 
in general. Individual cases of maladjustment and of specific dis- 
ability will always be with us. The editor knows of no one who has 
made more significant contributions to the better understanding 
and treatment of spelling and reading disabilities than Dr. Fernald. 
Unfortunately, she has published but little regarding the methods of 
diagnosis and treatment she has worked out as the result of several 
years of research in this field. 2 It is to be hoped that this summary 
statement may be followed in the not too distant future by a more 
detailed account of the interesting experiments Dr. Fernald has 
made in this line. (L. M. T.) 

The writer has for some time conducted investigations 
for the purpose of determining the characteristics of 
children of normal mentality who fail in specific school 
subjects or who show abnormalities in the learning 
process, and for the purpose of discovering means by 

1 The report of the spelling experiments and particularly of the methods 
used in class work is given in the The Teacher's Manual of Spelling, Cali- 
fornia State Textbook Series, State Press, 1918. The report of the work 
with non-readers is to appear shortly in the Journal of Educational Research. 
The experiments with the first work in reading and writing have just been 
completed and will be published within the next few months. 

2 For a somewhat fuller statement of her results with non-readers see 
Journal of Educational Research, November, 1921. 

103 



104 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

which the development of such children may be made 
normal. Only extreme cases of failure in specific school 
subjects were studied. 

The initial work in the case of both reading and 
spelling consisted in a thorough mental and educational 
testing of each child. If the educational tests verified 
the school report of failure and the mental test showed 
normal mentality, further tests were given the child to 
discover, if possible, the reason for his failure. Each 
case was then followed up with instruction in the 
subject or subjects in which the child was failing. 
Finally, class experiments were performed to determine 
whether the methods which worked with the child who 
had difficulty in a given subject could be applied to an 
ordinary class with satisfactory results. 

EXPERIMENTS WITH POOR SPELLERS 

Four hundred poor spellers have been studied during 
the last eight years. A third of these were adults or high 
school students, and the rest were children in the grades. 
All were individuals of normal or superior mentality 
who were extremely poor spellers. 

The main peculiarity found in the majority of these 
cases was lack of visual imagery. In some cases the 
difficulty seemed to be that, although the attention of 
these children had been called repeatedly to the visual 
image of the word, they were unable to visualize. That 
is, the child had his attention called to what was, at 
best, a vague, unstable image and so had no definite 
idea of the word as soon as the stimulus had been re- 
moved. In other cases the child had been trying to learn 
words by saying the letters over repeatedly to himself. 



CORRECTIVE AND ADJUSTMENT CASES 105 

The reason why this latter method of learning words is 
not favorable for the child whose imagery is primarily 
auditory or kinesthetic is given in the following para- 
graph. 

It is obvious that the only image of the word as a 
whole which the non-visual child is able to get is either 
the auditory image of the word as pronounced or the 
lip-or-hand kinesthetic (motor) image of the word. 
Oral spelling, which has been commonly supposed to 
benefit the child whose imagery is auditory or motor, 
actually obliterates the only image of the word the child 
is able to get. That is, the child cannot pronounce the 
word to himself and at the same time say the letters of 
the word. As soon as he begins to say the letters, the 
image of the word as pronounced is lost. 

In a few cases we found a child with visual imagery 
who was a poor speller. In these cases the difficulty 
seemed to be lack of attention to the image the child 
was able to get clearly. These children learned very 
rapidly as soon as attention was directed to the visual 
image. 

The remedial treatment consisted (1) in eliminating 
oral spelling or any form of repeating letters while learn- 
ing the word, and (2) in having the child say each sylla- 
ble to himself as he wrote it. The child may have to say 
the letters in the case of non-phonetic words or parts 
of words. He soon develops the ability to size up a 
word and see at a glance whether he can write it as he 
pronounces it. It takes a little time and patience to get 
the poor speller out of his old habits and started on the 
process just described, but he requires no individual 
attention after the start is once made. 



106 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

In all cases in which the work was continued over a 
sufficiently long period the spelling was entirely cor- 
rected. The length of time required seemed to depend 
on the extent to which the incorrect habits had been 
established. Children in the lower grades picked up the 
correct writing of words rapidly and, after a few writ- 
ings of a word, seemed to have no tendency to write it 
incorrectly. Older children and adults seemed to learn 
new words quite as rapidly as younger individuals, but 
showed a much greater tendency to revert to old erro- 
neous habits. Attention to the word was necessary for 
a much longer period in the case of older students. This 
is, of course, what would be expected, as the more fixed 
a habit has become the more the energy required to 
establish a substitute habit. Some of our most suc- 
cessful cases, however, were those of adults or high 
school children who discovered that they could write 
words correctly by the methods described and who per- 
sisted until the new habits were established. 

The essentials for the correct spelling of a word seem 
to be: 

1. Correct perception of the word. The child must see 
the word and pronounce it. It is especially essential 
that the child have the visual stimulus of the word be- 
fore him as long as necessary to form a clear image of 
every part of it. 

2. Attention to the type of image a child can get most 
clearly. For the auditory child, this would mean saying 
the syllables plainly to himself, except in the case of non- 
phonetic words, in which case it may be necessary to 
say the letters. 

3. Writing the word while the image is clear in con- 



CORRECTIVE AND ADJUSTMENT CASES 107 

sciousness. The child may be able to write the word 
correctly if his attention is on the word but quite unable 
to do so if he is thinking of something else. Conse- 
quently it is necessary for him to think the word while 
he is writing it the first few times. 

4. Writing the word correctly a sufficient number of 
times so that a habit is established. It is particularly es- 
sential that the child shall not be put in a position where 
he is compelled to write a word incorrectly during the 
habit-forming process. The rapid dictation of words of 
whose spelling the child is doubtful forces the child to 
write the word incorrectly and tends to establish habits 
of incorrect spelling. It is essential that the child 
should be able to go back to the perceptual process as 
often as necessary for the correct writing of the word. 
If he is allowed to look at the word whenever he is 
doubtful of its spelling but not allowed to copy it, the 
process of writing the word correctly will soon become 
automatic. It was found to be practically impossible 
to get poor spelling in the upper grades corrected unless 
teachers allowed the child to write as slowly as neces- 
sary in order to spell every word correctly. A few weeks 
under these conditions usually gave the desired results. 

EXPERIMENTS WITH NON-READERS 

In a series of class experiments, it was found that the 
methods which proved effective with the poor speller 
could be used in general classes without interfering 
with the learning process of other children. The details 
of the plan for doing this are given in The Teacher's 
Manual of Spelling, California State Textbook Series. 

During the last five years seven cases of non-readers 



108 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

have been brought to our attention. Only those chil- 
dren were considered non-readers who were normal 
according to mental tests and yet were unable to read 
monosyllabic words after at least three years in schools 
of good standing. In two cases the children were unable 
to read or write their own names, although every effort 
had been made to teach them. The intelligence quo- 
tient in all these cases was over 90 by the Stanford 
Revision, in three cases over 100 and in one case over 
140. The chronological ages ranged from 9 to 12 years. 

Although only seven cases have been studied to date, 
the similarity in their behavior suggests a common 
characteristic. All these children seem to be dependent 
on kinesthetic experiences for the development of word 
recognition. The failure to learn to read seems to be due 
to the absence of adequate motor expression in the 
beginning work in reading. 

The method used with these non-readers was the 
result of chance observations in connection with the 
work in spelling. One boy of eleven who had been sent 
us from the first grade and who was unable to read or 
write monosyllabic words finally learned to write 
several words after tracing them many times. It was 
found that he was able to recognize these few words in 
print. Other words were worked out in the same way 
with the same result. After six months the boy was 
reading so easily that further special work was no 
longer necessary. He is now (after five years) doing good 
work in the eighth grade of the Los Angeles city schools. 

The following method, worked out in connection with 
this first case, was successful in all six of the other 
cases. A word was written in crayola on stiff paper. 



CORRECTIVE AND ADJUSTMENT CASES 109 

The child traced the word with his fingers as many 
times as he wished to do so. He then wrote the word 
without looking at the copy. In all but two cases it was 
necessary for the child to trace the first few words many 
times before he was able to write them. As soon as the 
child was able he stopped tracing the word and wrote 
it after looking at the written word and saying it over to 
himself. Finally he was able to learn the word from the 
printed copy and to recognize it after he had studied it 
without writing it. He was then given practice in the 
apperception of phrases and in silent reading. 

Each of these children has learned to read, all but 
one fluently, after six months of special work, and all 
but the last two cases undertaken have gone into the 
regular grades corresponding to their chronological 
ages. All are doing satisfactory work in] these grades. 
The development seemed to take place in four distinct 
phases, as follows: (1) It was necessary for the child 
to trace the word in script and write it before he was 
able to recognize it on later presentation. (2) He was 
able to write the word without tracing it provided it 
was written and pronounced for him. (3) He was able 
to write the word after seeing it in print and having it 
pronounced for him. (4) He was finally able to recog- 
nize words without writing them provided they were 
pronounced for him, and to pronounce new words which 
resembled words he had already learned. 

EXPERIMENTS WITH READING AND WRITING IN THE 
CASE OF FIRST-GRADE CHILDREN 

The final series of experiments was made in connec- 
tion with the first work in reading and writing in three 



110 TESTS AND SCHOOL REORGANIZATION 

different schools and followed the general plan of the 
work already described, except that no formal content 
was given to the child. From the start the work was 
entirely spontaneous and individual and yet carried on 
with classes of the average size. 

The child began his written work by asking for any 
word he wished to learn. The teacher wrote this word 
for him on cardboard with crayola. The child traced 
the word as many times as he wished and then wrote it 
on the blackboard without looking at the copy. After 
learning a few words in this way, the child began to 
write sentences, asking for any new words and learning 
them by the method just described. 

Before the year was over all the children were able 
to look at a new word, pronounce it, and write it, trac- 
ing only in cases of especially difficult words. Their 
writing vocabularies were much more extensive than 
those of children in the second and third grades of the 
same school, and they tended to write much more 
complex compositions. Although a word was never 
copied, there was almost no misspelling. There were 
no failures of promotion in any of the classes in spite of 
the fact that one room was made up entirely of children 
who were unable to go into the regular first grade on 
account of some handicap, such as illness, late regis- 
tration, or supposed deficiency. In this class a third of 
the children skipped at least half a year. 

Experiments of this kind have convinced the writer 
that the methods described for the treatment of poor 
spellers and non-readers have much to offer for the im- 
provement of present-day methods of teaching normal 
children to read and spell. 



CORRECTIVE AND ADJUSTMENT CASES 111 

In closing, it is necessary to emphasize the value of 
mental and educational tests in the diagnosis of chil- 
dren's general and specific difficulties and in checking 
up the results of treatment. Without the use of test 
methods such extreme individual variates as those here 
described are often likely to be misunderstood and our 
remedial measures are compelled to proceed largely in 
the dark. 



Test Notices 



_, m 1 1 111 1 ii 1 1 :m n 111 1 111 1 ii inmiiiniii ii iiii i iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiininiiiiiiiniiii iuiiiiittiuiiuuiiiiuiuiiiiiiiiimini% 

Especially designed for use in high schools 

(Also usable as low as Grade 6 and as high as first year in college) 

TERMAN GROUP TEST of 
MENTAL ABILITY 

1 By Lewis M. Terman 

l = 

i Professor of Educational Psychology, Stanford University; joint author 

of the National Intelligence Tests and of the army mental tests; 
author of the Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale, and 
of a number of books on the measurement of intelligence 

This test is unique in many respects. Each of 886 
items was measured against a composite outside 
criterion. A try-out resulted in a reduction to 370 
items, each helping to differentiate bright pupils from 
dull ones. The items retained are more highly se- 
lected than will be found in any other group mental 
test. | 

The Terman Test is an eleven-page booklet. The 
pupil does no writing. The backs of the Scoring Keys 
contain the scoring rules. Only 30 to 35 minutes will | 

be required to test a group with it. The procedure | 

has been so simplified that it can be mastered by any 
teacher in a few minutes. The size of the booklets 
makes their use without desks easy. 
Examination: Form A. Price per package of z, booklets, 
including Scoring Key, Manual of Directions, and Record Sheet, 
$1.50 net. I 

Examination : Form B. Price per package of 25 booklets, | 

including Scoring Key, Manual of Directions, and Record Sheet, 
1 $1.50 net. § 

Specimen Set. Price 15 cents postpaid. 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

yonkers-on-hudson, new york 

2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 5 

I I 

Siiiiii'iiiiiiimnnnniiiiiiii[n!iiiiiiiniiiiiMiiiiii:!iiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiii!ihr!!iitiiri:!iiiiiiiiiiiii!iiiii'ii!iii'.:i;i3 



^^iiiiiitinit riiiMirirTifiMMsriitiTtrtiTtfriiiiirfiiTiirKiiriirii iimif T]Tiiriiiirjfi(ritf*iiini ifiiiiiiKiifiiiiniiiiifiiiiiiriMii imi rrinii mi jriiitiitiitiif r]iiEiiiifiiiiiiriiiit»«£iii! 

Prepared under the auspices of the National Research Council 

I NATIONAL 

INTELLIGENCE TESTS 

By M. E. Haggerty, L. M. Terman, E. L. Thorndike 
G. M. Whipple, and R. M. Yerkes 

^ I *HESE tests are the direct result of the application of the army 

A testing methods to school needs. They were devised in order to 

supply group tests for the examination of school children that would 

I embody the greater benefits derived from the Binet and similar tests. 

| The effectiveness of the army intelligence tests in problems of classifica- 
§ tion and diagnosis is a measure of the success that may be expected to 

= attend the use of the National Intelligence Tests, which have been 
greatly improved in the light of army experiences. 

The tests have been selected from a large group of tests after a try-out 

and a careful analysis by a statistical staff. The two scales prepared 

| consist of five tests each (with practice exercises), and either may 

1 be administered in thirty minutes. They are simple in application, 

§ reliable, and immediately useful for classifying children in Grades 

3 to 8 with respect to intellectual ability. Scoring is unusually simple. 

| Either scale may be used separately to advantage. The reliability 
of results is increased, however, by reexamination with the other scale 
I after an interval of at least a day. 

| Scale A consists of an arithmetical reasoning, a sentence completion, 

= a logical selection, a synonym-antonym, and a symbol-digit test. Scale 

1 B includes a completion, an information, a vocabulary, an analogies, 

I and a comparison test. 

Scale A: Forml. 12 pages. Price per package of 25 Exami- 
nation Booklets, 2 Scoring Keys, and 1 Class Record $1.45 net. 

Scale A: Form 2. Same description. Same price. 

Scale B: Forml. 12 pages. Price per package of 25 Exami- 
nation Booklets, Scoring Key, and Class Record $1.45 net. 

Scale B: Form 2. Same description. Same price. 

Manual of Directions. Paper. 32 pages. Price 25 cents 
net. 

Specimen Set. One copy of each Scale and Scoring Keys and 
Manual of Directions. Price 50 cents postpaid. 

Experimental work financed by the General Education Board 
by appropriation of $25,000 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

yonkers-on-hudson, new york 
2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 

WiiiiiitiiiiiitMiMiiiiiniiiiifiiiiiiiiitiHMiiiiiiiiifiiiiiMiiiiiiMiiiriiiinMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHfiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiriifiiiitiiiMiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiitiiiititiiiiiniriiiiiriiiitiriiiiiiiM 



-jiim.ni II l a n_ 

I Herring Revision j 



ofth 



e 



Binet-Simon Tests 

By John P. Herring 

1 Director of Educational Research, State Normal School § 
Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania 

~D ASED on the original Binet-Simon Tests, this exam- 
| ■*-' ination retains the advantages of previous revisions | 

and embodies new features that render the administra- | 
| tion simple and rapid. The substance of the tests is | 
1 entirely new. 

| In reality five examinations of different lengths are tele- | 

| scoped into one. Each examination includes all shorter j 

1 forms. The full examination of 38 tests gives a highly | 

| accurate rating for diagnosis. The four abbreviations 

| give nearly as accurate results in much less time. 

| Partial credits in place of the all-or-none method of 

| scoring give fine discrimination of measurement. Mental | 

ages and intelligence quotients have the same significance 
| as those by the Stanford Revision. The probable error | 
| of a mental age is about 2.5 months. 

| All the material for the examination is contained in one 

| manual and the arrangement of the tests on the page | 

j makes for convenience in administering. No extra ap- 

| paratus is required. 

Examination Manual: Form A. Price $i.oo net. 

Individual Record Card. Price per package 
of 25 cards, $1.00 net. 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

YoNKERS-ON-HtJDSON, NEW YoRK 

2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 

iflHIIIIHIIIII I I I llll IIHIIIl" 



iniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMi iiiiiiiiitiiuiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 

= I 

I HAGGERTY READING 
EXAMINATION 



| T^HESE tests were arranged and standardized by Dr. M. E- 

| Haggerty, Dean of the College of Education of the Uni- 

| versity of Minnesota, who has had a long and special prepara- 
tion in making and standardizing tests. He was assisted in the 

| preparation of the Sigma i test by Margaret E. Noonan of 

| Harris Teachers College, St. Louis, and by Laura C. Haggerty 

| in the preparation of the Sigma 2 and 3. The tests are definite 

I measures of the performance of children in reading. They repre- 

| sent standards which can be used to give a quantitative value 

I to the teaching of reading. They are group tests. The scores 

I made with the tests correlate closely with other measures of 

I school progress. 

= Sigma i (for grades 1-3). 

= Combines a reading test with an intelligence test. A new type of test. Illus- 

| trations and other features attractive to children. Consists of four fore- 

= exercises, a first test with 25 parts, and a second test with 20 parts, which can 

§ be given in 30 minutes. The examination is printed in a booklet of eight pages, 

§ measuring 7 x 8 },4 inches. Put up in packages of 25 examination booklets, with 

I 1 Key and 1 Record Sheet. Price $1.30 net. 

I Sigma 2 (for grades 3-8) and Key for Sigma 2. In preparation. 

1 Sigma 3 (for grades 6-12). 

= Consists of three tests: vocabulary, sentence reading, and paragraph reading. 

= Each test is preceded by directions for the pupil and a fore-exercise showing 
what is to be done in the test. With the exception of the last paragraph all 

= the material was selected from textbooks generally in use. The examination 

= is printed in a booklet of eight pages, measuring &% x 11 inches. Put up in 

I packages of 25 examination booklets with 1 Key and 1 Record Sheet. Price 

I $1.50 net. 

I Manual op Directions. 

= Gives full information on conducting and scoring Sigma i and Sigma 3 and on 

= interpreting results. The use of intelligence tests in connection with achieve- 

= ment tests is pointed out. Criteria by which to judge the value of tests are 

5 discussed in detail. The manual contains comprehensive norms for Sigma i 

= and provisional age norms and grade standards for Sigma 3. Directions for 

= Sigma 2 will be included when the examination is published. 48 pages. Price 

= 30 cents. 

= Specimen Set. An envelope containing: 1 Reading Examination: Sigma 1; 

= 1 Reading Examination: Sigma3; 1 Key for each examination; 1 Record Sheet; 

= 1 Manual of Directions. Price 50 cents postpaid. 

I Prices given are net, transportation extra. Specimen sets are sent postpaid. 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

YoNKERS-ON-HuDSON, New YORK 

2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 
rT"> ■ 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 j 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 m 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 j 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 uiniuiiuiiiiiiiuiiuiiuiiminiuiiii iiuiiiiiuuimiiiiiiiiiiiuiiniimiiuiiiii 



^iiHmMiiinumiiminiiniminiinnnniimiiiniiniiiiiiiiiiiiminmiinmii niimmniniiiiiiuwiiwiwmm qnnnmniMmnmtmin^ 

OTIS GROUP INTELLIGENCE 
SCALE 



I A N 



By Arthur S. Otis 

Development Specialist in Testing and Grading, United States Army ; formerly 
of the Department of Education, Stanford University 

absolute point scale, an instrument for the scientific and 
rapid measurement in groups of native mental ability. 
Any teacher can test an entire class in an hour and check 
the results without error, and compare the results with es- 
tablished norms. It is the first scale of its kind, it possesses 
many unique features, is similar to the Army tests, and very 
successfully used in schools all over the country. 

form a PRIMARY EXAMINATION form b 

Eight tests and a page for recording the performance of the examinee. These 
examinations are adapted for pupils in grades I to 4. 

form a ADVANCED EXAMINATION form b 

Ten tests and a page for recording the performance of the examinee. These 
examinations are adapted for pupils in grade 5, and up through the high school. 
Both the primary and the advanced material which form is used first. All 
examinations are furnished in two examinations are illustrated, 
forms — A and B — which differ in The tests are put up in pack- 
S subject matter but are similar in form, ages of 2S examination booklets, 
S These two forms enable the examiner either form, either Primary or Ad- 
S to use one for the first examination and vanced examinations, with 1 Class 
S the other for the second; it is im- Record. 
§ trice per package. Prinnarif Examination, $ 1 . S 5 net ; Advanced Examination. $ 1 . iO net 

MANUAL OF DIRECTIONS 
5 Contains full instructions for giving each of the examinations — primary and 
= advanced — and includes suggestions for scoring, interpreting the results, 
§ and a table of norms. Tables of answers, which can be used to check the 
= answers without the Examiner's Key, are also given. 
I Price SO cents net 

EXAMINER'S KEY 
= For use with Advanced Examination. Consists of transparent sheet so con- 
S trived that arswers can be quickly and accurately checked. 
I Price 25 cents net 

COMPLETE SPECIMEN SET 
5 An envelope containing 1 Primary Examination and 1 Advanced Examination, 
3 of each form ; 1 Manual ; 1 Key ; 1 Class Record. 
Price 75 cents postpaid 
Prices are net, transportation extra, except for Specimen Sets. 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

YoNKERS-ON-HuDSON, NEW YORK 

2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 

SinmiiiiiiiiiiiiniiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiriiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiinmiiiiiiiiiiiHi millltll 11 llllllllll millinnillltl Mil null II1III1UI. 



^IllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllillUlllllllilllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllUIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Ill£ 

STANDARD TESTS of Achievement 
and Intelligence. Also Practice Tests 

Prepared by experts only 

= COURTIS Standard Practice Tests in Arithmetic: IQ20 Revision. Cabinet No. I 

| i, $9.00 net; Cabinet No. 2, $7.00 net; Cabinet No. 3, $2.75 net; Student's I 

= Record and Practice Pad, 16 cents net; Teacher's Manual, 40 cents net; § 

= Teacher's Record, 5 cents net; Research Cards, 90 cents net; Extra Lesson | 

I Cards, 1 to 48: Form A, 90 cents net; Lesson Cards 1 to 48 : Form B, 90 cents | 
^ net; Extra Lesson Cards, 60 cents net ; Specimen Set, $1.50 postpaid. 

COURTIS Standard Practice Tests in Handwriting. Student's Daily Lesson 

Book, 10 cents net; Student's Daily Record Card and Graph Blank, 3 cents net; I 

1 Teacher's Manual, including Class Record: Research Tests, 25 cents net; Class § 

Record: Daily Scores and Time Cost, 5 cents net; Scale for Measuring Hand- | 
= writing, 10 cents net; Specimen set 50 cents postpaid. 

I HAGGERTY Intelligence Examination. Delta 1 package, $1.50 net; Key for | 

I Delta 1, 15 cents net; Delta 2 package, $1.50 net; Key for Delta 2, 10 cents 5 

I net; Manual of Directions, 40 cents net ; Specimen Set, 65 cents postpaid. 5 

= HAGGERTY Reading Examination. Sigma 1 package, $1.40 net; Key for I 

S Sigma 1, 5 cents net; Sigma 3 package, $1.50 net; Key for Sigma 3, 10 cents I 

= net; Manual of Directions, 30 cents net; Specimen Set, 50 cents postpaid. = 

I HANDSCHIN Modern Language Tests. Silent Reading Test A: French 1 

I package, $1.00 net; Silent Reading Test B: French package, $1.00 net; = 

I Silent Reading Test A : Spanish package, $1.00 net; Silent Reading Test B: = 

= Spanish package, $1.00 net; Comprehension and Grammar Test A: French = 

I package, $1.00 net; Specimen Set, 20 cents postpaid. (Packages include § 

I directions and keys.) = 
I HUDELSON English Composition Scale, vii+46 pp. 60 cents. 
I HAGGERTY, TERMAN, THORNDIKE, WHIPPLE, YERKES National 

= Intelligence Tests. Scale A: Form 1 or 2 package, $1.60 net; Scale B: Form | 

i or 2 package, $1.60 net; Manual of Directions, 25 cents net; Specimen | 

§ Set, 50 cents postpaid. Packages include keys. | 

I OTIS General Intelligence Examination. Examination package with Manual = 
5 and Key, $1.00 net; Specimen Set, 10 cents postpaid. 

= OTIS Group Intelligence Scale. Primary Examination : Form A package, | 

| $1.50 net; Primary Examination: Form B package, $1.50 net; Advanced = 

§ Examination: Form A package, $1.50 net; Advanced Examination : Form B = 

j§ package, $1.50 net; Manual of Directions, 40 cents net; Examiner's Key, § 

= 25 cents net; Specimen Set, 75 cents postpaid. f 
I TERMAN Group Test of Mental Ability. Examination: Form A package, 

I $1.60 net; Examination: Form B package, $1.60 net; Specimen Set, 15 cents = 
I postpaid. (Packages contain Manuals and Keys.) 

= WILKINS Prognosis Test in Modern Languages. Tests packages, $1.60 net; =§ 
= Specimen Set, 10 cents postpaid. (Packages contain Manual.) 

= Most packages contain Class Records. All packages contain examination § 
S blanks for 25 pupils, except the Handschin tests which contain blanks for so 

pupils. All prices net, transportation additional, except for specimen sets which = 

= are sent postpaid when cash accompanies the order. Circulars describing the = 
= tests more in detail will be sent on application, also a 32-page Brief Treatise on 

I Tests. Other testB are in active preparation. = 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

yonkers-on-hudson, new york 
= 2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 

c = 

HMiiMuiiiHiiiiNiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiihiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir; 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 842 732 9 




